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"LI  B  RAR.Y 

OF   THE    ■ 
U  N  1  VERSITY 
Of    ILLINOIS 


326.4 
B39'e 


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SLAVERY  AND  ABOLITIONISM, 


WITH  REFERENCE  TO  THE 


DUTY  OF  AMERICAN  FEMALES. 


BY  CATHARINE  E.  BEECHER. 


HEXRY  PERKINS,  134  CHESTNUT  STREET. 
PERKINS  &  MARVIN,  BOSTON. 

1837. 


^^.c,  v 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1837,  by 
Henry  Perkins,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylrania. 


I.  A8HMEAD  AND  CO.  PKINTERS* 


PREFACE. 


The  following  are  the  circumstances  which 
occasioned  the  succeeding  pages.  A  gentle- 
man and  a  friend,  requested  the  writer  to 
assign  reasons  why  he  should  not  join  the 
Abolition  Society.  While  preparing  a  reply 
to  this  request,  Miss  Grimke's  Address  was 
presented,  and  the  information  communi- 
cated, of  her  intention  to  visit  the  North,  for 
the  purpose  of  using  her  influence  among 
northern  ladies  to  induce  them  to  unite  with 
Abolition  Societies.  The  writer  then  began 
a  private  letter  to  Miss  Grimke  as  a  personal 
friend.  But  by  the  wishes  and  advice  of 
others,  these  two  efforts  were  finally  com- 
bined in  the  following  Essay,  to  be  presented 
to  the  public. 


14010;; 


The  honoured  and  beloved  name  which 
that  lady  bears,  so  associated  as  it  is  at  the 
South,  North,  and  West,  with  all  that  is  ele- 
gant in  a  scholar,  refined  in  a  gentleman, 
and  elevated  in  a  Christian, — the  respectable 
sect  with  which  she  is  connected, — the  in- 
teresting effusions  of  her  pen, — and  her  own 
intellectual  and  moral  worth,  must  secure 
respect  for  her  opinions  and  much  personal 
influence.  This  seems  to  be  a  sufficient 
apology  for  presenting  to  the  public  some 
considerations  in  connexion  w^ith  her  name  ; 
considerations  which  may  exhibit  in  another 
aspect  the  cause  she  advocates,  and  which  it 
may  be  appropriate  to  consider.  As  such, 
they  are  respectfully  commended  to  the  pub- 
lic, and  especially  to  that  portion  of  it  for 
which  they  are  particularly  designed. 


ESSAY 


ON 


SLAVERY   AND   ABOLITIONISM. 


Addressed  to  Miss  A.  D.  Grimke. 


My  dear  Frie!^d, 

Your  public  address  to  Christian  females 
at  the  South  has  reached  me,  and  I  have 
been  urged  to  aid  in  circulating  it  at  the 
North.  I  have  also  been  informed,  that  you 
contemplate  a  tour,  during  the  ensuing  year, 
for  the  purpose  of  exerting  your  influence  to 
form  Abolition  Societies  among  ladies  of  the 
non-slave-holding  States. 

Our  acquaintance  and  friendship  give  me 
a  claim  to  your  private  ear;  but  there  are 
reasons  why  it  seems  more  desirable  to  ad- 
dress you,  who  now  stand  before  the  public 

a2 


as  an  advocate  of  Abolition  measures,  in  a 
more  public  manner. 

The  object  I  have  in  view,  is  to  present 
some  reasons  why  it  seems  unwise  and  inex- 
pedient for  ladies  of  the  non-slave-holding 
States  to  unite  themselves  in  Abolition  Socie- 
ties ;  and  thus,  at  the  same  time,  to  exhibit 
the  inexpediency  of  the  course  you  propose 
to  adopt. 

I  would  first  remark,  that  your  public  ad- 
dress leads  me  to  infer,  that  you  are  not  suf- 
ficiently informed  in  regard  to  the  feelings 
and  opinions  of  Christian  females  at  the 
North.  Your  remarks  seem  to  assume,  that 
the  'principles  held  by  Abolitionists  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  are  peculiar  to  them,  and 
are  not  generally  adopted  by  those  at  the 
North  who  oppose  their  measures.  In  this 
you  are  not  correctly  informed.  In  the  sense 
in  which  Abolitionists  explain  the  terms  they 
employ,  there  is  little,  if  any,  difference  be- 
tween them  and  most  northern  persons. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  northern  persons  of 
religious  principles.  I  know  not  where  to 
look  for  northern  Christians,  who  would  deny 


that  every  slave-holder  is  bound  to  treat  his 
slaves  exactly  as  he  vv^ould  claim  that  his  own 
children  ought  to  be  treated  in  similar  circum- 
stances ;  that  the  holding  of  our  fellow  men 
as  property,  or  the  withholding  any  of  the 
rights  of  freedom,  for  mere  purposes  of  gain, 
is  a  sin,  and  ought  to  be  immediately  aban- 
doned ;  and  that  where  the  law^s  are  such, 
that  a  slave-holder  cannot  Zeg-a//?/ emancipate 
his  slaves,  without  throwing  them  into  worse 
bondage,  he  is  bound  to  use  all  his  influence 
to  alter  those  laws,  and,  in  the  meantime,  to 
treat  his  slaves,  as  nearly  as  he  can,  as  if 
they  were  free. 

I  do  not  suppose  there  is  one  person  in  a 
thousand,  at  the  North,  who  would  dissent 
from  these  principles.  They  would  only  dif- 
fer in  the  use  of  terms,  and  call  this  the  doc- 
trine of  gradual  emancipation,  while  Aboli- 
tionists would  call  it  the  doctrine  of  immediate 
emancipation. 

As  this  is  the  state  of  pubhc  opinion  at  the 
North,  there  is  no  necessity  for  using  any 
influence  with  northern  ladies,  in  order  that 
they  may  adopt  your  principles  on  the  sub- 


8 

ject  of  slavery;  for  they  hold  them  in  coni' 
mon  with  yourself,  and  it  would  seem  unwise, 
and  might  prove  irritating,  to  approach  them 
as  if  they  held  opposite  sentiments. 

In  regard  to  the  duty  of  making  efforts  to 
bring  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  to 
adopt  these  principles,  and  act  on  them,  it  is 
entirely  another  matter.  On  this  point  you 
would  find  a  large  majority  opposed  to  your 
views.  Most  persons  in  the  non-slave-hold- 
ing States  have  considered  the  matter  of 
Southern  slavery,  as  one  in  which  they  were 
no  more  called  to  interfere,  than  in  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  press-gang  system  in  England,  or 
the  tythe  system  of  Ireland.  Public  opinion 
may  have  been  wrong  on  this  point,  and  yet 
have  been  right  on  all  those  great  principles 
of  rectitude  and  justice  relating  to  slavery, 
which  Abolitionists  claim  as  their  distinctive 
peculiarities. 

•  The  distinctive  peculiarity  of  the  Abolition 
Society  is  this:  it  is  a  voluntary  association 
in  one  section  of  the  country,  designed  to 
awaken  public  sentiment  against  a  moral  evil 
existing  in   another  section  of  the  country, 


9 

and  the  principal  point  of  effort  seems  to  be, 
to  enlarge  the  numbers  of  this  association  as 
a  means  of  influencing  public  sentiment.* 
The  principal  object  of  your  proposed  tour, 
I  suppose,  is  to  present  facts,  arguments,  and 
persuasions  to  influence  northern  ladies  to 
enrol  themselves  as  members  of  this  associa- 
tion. 

I  will  therefore  proceed  to  present  some  of 
the  reasons  which  may  be  brought  against 
such  a  measure  as  the  one  you  would  urge. 

In  the  first  place,  the  main  principle  of  ac- 
tion in  that  society  rests  w^holly  on  a  false 
deduction  from  past  experience.  Experience 
has  shown,  that  when  certain  moral  evils 
exist  in  a  community,  efforts  to  awaken  pub- 
lic sentiment  against  such  practices,  and 
combinations  for  the  exercise  of  personal  in- 
fluence and  example,  have  in  various  cases 
tended  to  rectify  these  evils.  Thus  in  respect 
to  intemperance  ; — the  collecting  of  facts,  the 
labours  of  public  lecturers  and  the  distribution 
of  publications,  have  had  much  effect  in 
diminishing  the  evil.  So  in  reference  to  the 
slave-trade  and   slavery  in  England.      The 


10 

English  nation  possessed  the  power  of  regu- 
lating their  own  trade,  and  of  giving  liberty 
to  every  slave  in  their  dominions;  and  yet 
they  were  entirely  unmindful  of  their  duty 
on  this  subject.  Clarkson,  Wilberforce,  and 
their  coadjutors,  commenced  a  system  of 
operations  to  arouse  and  influence  public 
sentiment,  and  they  succeeded  in  securing 
the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  and  the 
gradual  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Enghsh 
colonies.  In  both  these  cases,  the  effort  was 
to  enlighten  and  direct  public  sentiment  in  a 
■community,  of  which  the  actors  were  a  por- 
tion, in  order  to  lead  them  to  rectify  an  evil 
existing  among  themselves,  which  was  en- 
tirely under  their  control. 

From  the  success  of  such  efforts,  the  Abo- 
litionists of  this  country  have  drawn  in- 
ferences, which  appear  to  be  not  only  illogi- 
cal, but  false.  Because  individuals  in  their 
own  community  have  aroused  their  fellow 
citizens  to  correct  their  own  evils,  therefore 
they  infer  that  attempts  to  convince  iheir 
fellow-citizens  of  the  faults  of  another  com- 
•munity  will  lead  that  community  to  forsake 


11 

their  evil  practices.  An  example  will  more- 
clearly  illustrate  the  case.  Suppose  two  rival 
cities,  which  have  always  been  in  competi- 
tion, and  always  jealous  of  each  other's  re- 
putation and  prosperity.  Certain  individuals 
in  one  of  these  cities  become  convinced,  that 
the  sin  of  intemperance  is  destroying  their 
prosperity  and  domestic  happiness.  They 
proceed  to  collect  facts,  they  arrange  statis- 
tics, they  call  public  meetings,  they  form 
voluntary  associations,  they  use  arguments,, 
entreaties  and  personal  example,  and  by 
these  means  they  arrest  the  evil. 

Suppose  another  set  of  men,  in  this  same 
community,  become  convinced  that  certain 
practices  in  trade  and  business  in  the  rival 
city,  are  dishonest,  and  have  an  oppressive 
bearing  on  certain  classes  in  that  city,  and 
are  injurious  to  the  interests  of  general  com- 
merce. Suppose  also,  that  these  are  prac- 
tices, which,  by  those  who  allow  them,  are 
considered  as  honourable  and  right.  Those 
who  are  convinced  of  their  immorality,  wish 
to  alter  the  opinions  and  the  practices  of  the 
citizens  of  their  rival  city,  and  to  do  this, 


12 

they  commence  the  collection  of  facts,  that 
exhibit  the  tendencies  of  these  practices  and 
the  evils  they  have  engendered.  But  instead 
of  going  among  the  community  in  which  the 
evils  exist,  and  endeavouring  to  convince  and 
persuade  them,  they  proceed  to  form  volun- 
tary associations  among  their  neighbours  at 
home,  and  spend  their  time,  money  and  ef- 
forts to  convince  their  fellow  citizens  that  the 
inhabitants  of  their  rival  city  are  guilty  of  a 
great  sin.  They  also  publish  papers  and 
tracts  and  send  out  agents,  not  to  the  guilty 
city,  but  to  all  the  neighbouring  towns  and 
villages,  to  convince  them  of  the  sins  of  the 
city  in  their  vicinity.  And  they  claim  that 
they  shall  succeed  in  making  that  city  break 
off  its  sins,  by  these  measures,  because  other 
men  succeeded  in  banishing  intemperance  by 
labouring  among  their  own  friends  and  fel- 
low citizens.  Is  not  this  example  exactly 
parallel  with  the  exertions  of  the  Abolition- 
ists 1  Are  not  the  northern  and  southern  sec- 
tions of  our  country  distinct  communities, 
with  different  feelings  and  interests?  Are 
they  not  rival,  and  jealous  in  feehng  ?  Have 
the  northern  States  the  power  to  rectify  evils 


13 

at  the  South,  as  they  have  to  remove  their 
own  moral  deformities;  or  have  they  any 
such  power  over  the  southern  States  as  the 
British  people  had  over  their  ow^n  trade 
and  their  dependent  colonies  in  the  West  In- 
dies?* Have  not  Abolitionists  been  sending 
out  papers,  tracts,  and  agents  to  convince 
the  people  of  the  North  of  the  sins  of  the 
South?  Have  they  not  refrained  from  going 
to  the  South  with  their  facts,  arguments,  and 
appeals,  because  they  feared  personal  evils 
to  themselves?  And  do  not  Abolitionists 
found  their  hopes  of  success  in  their  project, 
on  the  success  which  crowned  the  efforts  of 
British  philanthropists  in  the  case  of  slavery, 
and  on  the  success  that  has  attended  efforts  to 
banish  intemperance?  And  do  not  these  tw^o 
cases  differ  entirely  from  the  Abolition  move- 
ment in  this  main  point,  that  one  is  an  effort 
to  convince  men  of  their  ovm  sins,  and  the 
other  is  an  effort  to  convince  men  of  the  sins 
of  other  persons  ?  ' 

The  second  reason  I  would  urge  against 
joining  the  Abolition  Society  is,  that  its  cha- 
racter and  measures  are  not  either  peaceful 

B 


14 

or  Christian  in  tendency,  but  they  rather  are 
those  which  tend  to  generate  party  spirit, 
denunciation,  recrimination,  and  angry  pas- 
sions. 

But  before  bringing  evidence  to  sustain 
this  position,  I  wish  to  make  a  distinction 
between  the  men  who  constitute  an  associa- 
tion, and  the  measures  which  are  advocated 
and  adopted. 

I  beheve,  that  as  a  body,  AboHtionists  are 
men  of  pure  morals,  of  great  honesty  of  pur- 
pose, of  real  benevolence  and  piety,  and  of 
great  activity  in  efforts  to  promote  what  they 
consider  the  best  interests  of  their  fellow 
men.  I  believe,  that,  in  making  efforts  to 
abolish  slavery,  they  have  taken  measures, 
which  they  supposed  were  best  calculated  to 
bring  this  evil  to  an  end,  with  the  greatest 
speed,  and  with  the  least  danger  and  sufier- 
ing  to  the  South.  I  do  not  believe  they  ever 
designed  to  promote  disunion,  or  insurrec- 
tion, or  to  stir  up  strife,  or  that  they  suppose 
that  their  measures  can  be  justly  character- 
ized by  the  peculiarities  I  have  specified.  I 
believe  they  have  been  urged  forward  by  a 


15 

strong  feeling  of  patriotism,  as  well  as  of  re- 
lisrious  dutv,  and  that  thev  have  made  s^reat 
sacrifices  of  feeling,  character,  time,  and 
money  to  promote  what  they  believed  to  be 
the  cause  of  humanity  and  the  service  of 
God.  I  regard  individuals  among  them,  as 
having  taken  a  bold  and  courageous  stand, 
in  maintainins:  the  liberty  of  free  discussion, 
the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press ;  though 
this  however  is  somewhat  abated  by  the 
needless  provocations  by  which  they  caused 
those  difficulties  and  hazards  they  so  cou- 
rageously sustained.  In  speaking  thus  of 
Abolitionists  as  a  body,  it  is  not  assumed  that 
there  are  not  bad  men  found  in  this  party  as 
well  as  in  every  other ;  nor  that  among  those 
who  are  good  men,  there  are  not  those  who 
may  have  allowed  jiarty  spirit  to  take  the 
place  of  Christian  principle ;  men  w^ho  have 
exhibited  a  mournful  destitution  of  Christian 
charity  ;  who  have  indulged  in  an  overbear- 
ing,  denouncing,  and  self-willed  pertinacity 
as  to  measures.  Yet  with  these  reservations, 
I  believe  that  the  above  is  no  more  than  a 
fair  and  just  exhibition  of  that  class  of  men 


16 


who  are  embraced  in  the  party  of  AboHtion- 
ists.  And  all  this  can  be  allowed,  and  vet 
the  objection  I  am  to  urge  against  joining 
their  ranks  may  stand  in  its  full  force. 

To  make  the  position  clearer,  an  illustra- 
tion may  be  allowed.  Suppose  a  body  of 
good  men  become  convinced  that  the  in- 
spired direction,  "  them  that  sin,  rebuke  be- 
fore all,  that  others  may  fear,"  imposes  upon 
them  the  duty  of  openly  rebuking  every  body 
whom  they  discover  in  the  practice  of  any 
sin.  Suppose  these  men  are  daily  in  the 
habit  of  going  into  the  streets,  and  calling  all 
by-standers  around  them,  pointing  out  cer- 
tain men,  some  as  Hars,  some  as  dishonest, 
some  as  licentious,  and  then  bringing  proofs 
of  their  guilt  and  rebuking  them  before  all ;  at 
the  same  time  exhorting  all  around  to  point 
at  them  the  finger  of  scorn. 

They  persevere  in  this  course  till  the  whole 
community  is  thrown  into  an  uproar;  and 
assaults,  and  even  bloodshed  ensue.  They 
then  call  on  all  good  citizens  to  protect  their 
persons  from  abuse,  and  to  maintain  the 
liberty  of  speech  and  of  free  opinion. 


17 

Now  the  men  may  be  as  pure  in  morals, 
as  conscientious  and  upright  in  intention,  as 
any  Abolitionist,  and  yet  every  one  would 
say,  that  their  measures  were  unwnse  and 
unchristian. 

In  like  manner,  although  Abolitionists  may 
be  lauded  for  many  virtues,  still  much  evi- 
dence can  be  presented,  that  the  character 
and  measures  of  the  Abolition  Society  are 
not  either  peaceful  or  christian  in  tendency, 
but  that  they  are  in  their  nature  calculated 
to  generate  party  spirit,  denunciation,  re- 
crimination, and  angry  passions. 

The  first  thing  I  would  present  to  establish 
this,  is  the  character  of  the  leaders  of  this 
association.  Every  combined  effort  is  ne- 
cessarily directed  by  leaders  ;  and  the  spirit 
of  the  leaders  will  inevitably  be  communi- 
cated to  their  coadjutors,  and  appear  in  the 
measures  of  the  whole  bodv. 

In  attempting  to  characterize  these  leaders, 
I  would  first  present  another  leader  of  a  simi- 
lar enterprise,  the  beloved  and  venerated 
WiLBERFORCE.  It  is  thus  that  his  prominent 
traits  are  delineated  bv  an  intimate  friend, 

m 

b2 


18 

"  His  extreme  benevolence  contributed 
largely  to  his  success.  I  have  heard  him 
say,  that  it  was  one  of  his  constant  rules, 
and  on  the  question  of  slavery  especially, 
never  to  provoke  an  adversary — to  allow 
him  credit  fully  for  sincerity  and  purity  of 
motive — to  abstain  from  all  irritating  expres- 
sions— to  avoid  even  such  political  attacks 
as  would  indispose  his  opponents  for  his 
great  cause.  In  fact,  the  benignity,  the  gen- 
tleness, the  kind-heartedness  of  the  man,  dis- 
armed the  bitterest  foes.  Not  only  on  this 
question  did  he  restrain  himself,  but  general- 
ly. Once  he  had  been  called  during  a  whole 
debate  '  the  religious  member,'  in  a  kind  of 
scorn.  He  remarked  afterwards,  that  he  was 
much  inclined  to  have  retorted,  by  calling 
his  opponent  the  irreligious  member,  but  that 
he  refrained,  as  it  would  have  been  a  return- 
ing of  evil  for  evil.  Next  to  his  general  con- 
sistency, and  love  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
humility  of  his  character  always  appeared 
remarkable.  The  modest,  shrinking,  simple 
Christian  statesman  and  friend  always  ap- 
peared  in   liim.     And  the   nearer  you  ap- 


19 

proached  him,  the  more  his  habit  of  mind 
obviously  appeared  to  be  modest  and  lowly. 
His  charity  in  judging  of  others,  is  a  farther 
trait  of  his  Christian  character.  Of  his  bene- 
volence I  need  not  speak,  but  his  kind  con- 
struction of  doubtful  actions,  his  charitable 
language  toward  those  with  whom  he  most 
widely  differed,  his  thorough  forgetfulness  of 
little  affronts,  w^ere  fruits  of  that  general 
benevolence  which  continually  appeared." 

This  was  the  leader,  both  in  and  out  of 
Parliament,  of  that  body  of  men  who  com- 
bined to  bring  to  an  end  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade,  in  the  dominions  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. With  him,  as  principal  leaders,  were 
associated  Clarkson,  Sharpe,  Macauley,  and 
others  of  a  similar  spirit.  These  men  were 
all  of  them  characterized  by  that  mild,  bene- 
volent, peaceful,  gentlemanly  and  forbearing 
spirit,  W'hich  has  been  described  as  so  con- 
spicuous in  Wilberforce.  And  when  their 
measures  are  examined,  it  will  be  found  that 
they  were  eminently  mild,  peaceful,  and  for- 
bearing. Though  no  effort  that  is  to  encoun- 
ter the  selfish  interests  of  men,  can  escape 


20 

Without  odium  and  opposition,  from  those 
who  are  thwarted,  and  from  all  whom  they 
can  influence,  these  men  carefully  took  those 
measures  that  were  calculated  to  bring  about 
their  end  with  the  least  opposition  and  evil 
possible.  They  avoided  prejudices,  strove 
to  conciliate  opposers,  shunned  every  thing 
that  would  give  needless  offence  and  exas- 
peration, began  slowly  and  cautiously,  with 
points  which  could  be  the  most  easily  car- 
ried, and  advanced  toward  others  only  as 
public  sentiment  became  more  and  more 
enlightened.  They  did  not  beard  the  lion  in 
full  face,  by  coming  out  as  the  first  thing  with 
the  maxim,  that  all  slavery  ought  and  must 
be  abandoned  immediately.  They  began 
with  "  inquiries  as  to  the  impolicy  of  the  slave 
trade,^^  and  it  was  years  before  they  came  to 
the  point  of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  And 
they  carried  their  measures  through,  without 
producing  warring  parties  among  good  men, 
who  held  common  principles  with  themselves. 
As  a  general  fact,  the  pious  men  of  Great 
Britain  acted  harmoniously  in  this  great 
effort. 


21 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  leaders  of  the  Abo- 
lition movement  in  America.  The  man  who 
first  tuok  the  lead  was  William  L.  Garri- 
son, who,  though  he  professes  a  belief  in 
the  Christian  religion,  is  an  avowed  opponent 
of  most  of  its  institutions.  The  character 
and  spirit  of  this  man  have  for  years  been 
exhibited  in  "  the  Liberator,"  of  which  he  is 
the  editor.  That  there  is  to  be  found  in  that 
paper,  or  in  any  thing  else,  any  evidence  of 
his  possessing  the  peculiar  traits  of  Wilber- 
force,  not  even  his  warmest  admirers  will 
maintain.  How  many  of  the  opposite  traits 
can  be  found,  those  can  best  judge  who  have 
read  his  paper.  Gradually  others  joined 
themselves  in  the  effort  commenced  by  Gar- 
rison ;  but  for  a  long  time  they  consisted 
chiefly  of  men  who  would  fall  into  one  of 
these  three  classes ;  either  good  men  who 
w^ere  so  excited  bv  a  knowleda^e  of  the  enor- 
mous  evils  of  slavery,  that  any  thing  was 
considered  better  than  entire  inactivity,  or 
else  men  accustomed  to  a  contracted  field  of 
observation,  and  more  qualified  to  judge  of 
immediate  results  than  of  general  tendencies, 


2"2 

or  else  men  of  ardent  and  impulsive  tem- 
perament, whose  feelings  are  likely  to  take 
the  lead,  rather  than  their  judgment. 

•  There  are  no  men  who  act  more  efficiently 
as  the  leaders  of  an  enterprise  than  the  edi- 
tors of  the  periodicals  that  advocate  and  de- 
fend it.  The  editors  of  the  Emancipator,  the 
Friend  of  Man,  the  New  York  Evangelist, 
and  the  other  abolition  periodicals,  may 
therefore  be  considered  as  among  the  chief 
leaders  of  the  enterprise,  and  their  papers 
are  the  mirror  from  which  their  spirit  and 
character  are  reflected. 

I  wish  the  friends  of  these  editors  would 
cull  from  their  papers  all  the  indications  they 
can  find  of  the  peculiarities  that  distinguished 
Wilberforce  and  his  associates  $  all  the  evi- 
dence of  "  a  modest  and  lowly  spirit,'* — all 
the  exhibitions  of  "  charity  in  judging  of  the 
motives  of  those  who  oppose  their  measures," 
— all  the  "  indications  of  benignity,  gentle- 
ness, and  kind-heartedness," — all  the  "  kind 
constructions  of  doubtful  actions," — all  the 
*'  charitable  language  used  toward  those 
who  differ  in  opinion  or  measures," — all  the 


23 

"  thorough  forgetfulness  of  httle  aflronts,'^ — - 
all  the  cases  where  "  opponents  are  allowed 
full  credit  for  purity  and  sincerity  of  motive," 
— all  cases  where  they  have  been  careful 
"  never  to  provoke  an  adversary," — all  cases 
where  they  have  "  refrained  from  all  irritat- 
ing expressions," — all  cases  where  they  have 
avoided  every  thing  that  would  "  indispose 
their  opponents  for  their  great  cause,"  and 
then  compare  the  result  with  what  may  be 
found  of  an  opposite  character,  and  I  think  it 
would  not  be  unsafe  to  infer  that  an  associa- 
tion whose  measures,  on  an  exciting  subject, 
were  guided  by  such  men,  would  be  more 
likely  to  be  aggressive  than  peaceful.  The 
position  I  would  establish  will  appear  more 
clearly,  by  examining  in  detail  some  of  the 
prominent  measures  which  have  been  adopt- 
ed by  this  association. 

•'One  of  the  first  measures  of  Abohtionists 
was  an  attack  on  a  benevolent  society,  origi- 
nated and  sustained  by  some  of  the  most  pious 
and  devoted  men  of  the  age.  It  was  imagined 
by  Abolitionists,  that  the  influence  and  mea- 
sures of  the  Colonization  Society  tended  to 


24 

retard  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  to  perpe- 
tuate injurious  prejudices  against  the  coloured 
race.  The  peaceful  and  christian  method  of 
meeting  this  difficulty  would  have  been,  to 
collect  all  the  evidence  of  this  supposed  hurt- 
ful tendency,  and  privately,  and  in  a  respect- 
ful and  conciliating  way,  to  have  presented  it 
to  the  attention  of  the  wise  and  benevolent 
men,  who  were  most  interested  in  sustaining 
this  institution.  If  this  measure  did  not  avail 
to  convince  them,  then  it  would  have  been 
safe  and  justifiable  to  present  to  the  public  a 
temperate  statement  of  facts,  and  of  the  de- 
ductions based  on  them,  drawn  up  in  a  re- 
spectful and  candid  manner,  with  every  cha- 
ritable allowance  which  truth  could  warrant. 
Instead  of  this,  when  the  attempt  was  first 
made  to  turn  public  opinion  against  the  Colo- 
nization Society,  I  met  one  of  the  most  influ- 
ential supporters  of  that  institution,  just  after 
he  had  had  an  interview  with  a  leading  Abo- 
litionist. This  gentleman  was  most  remark- 
able for  his  urbanity,  meekness,  and  benevo- 
lence, and  his  remark  to  me  in  reference  to 
this  interview,  shows  what  was  its  nature. 


25 

"I  love  truth  and  sound  argument,"  said  he, 
"but  when  a  man  comes  at  me  with  a  sledge 
hammer,  I  cannot  help  dodging."  This  is  a 
specimen  of  their  private  manner  of  dealing. 
In  public,  the  enterprise  was  attacked  as  a 
plan  for  promoting  the  selfish  interests  and 
prejudices  of  the  whites,  at  the  expense  of  the 
coloured  population;  and  in  many  cases,  it 
was  assumed  that  the  conductors  of  this  asso- 
ciation were  aware  of  this,  and  accessory  to 
it.  And  the  style  in  which  the  thing  was 
done  was  at  once  offensive,  inflammatory,  and 
exasperating.  Denunciation,  sneers,  and  pub- 
lic rebuke,  were  bestowed  indiscriminately 
upon  the  conductors  of  the  enterprise,  and  of 
course  they  fell  upon  many  sincere,  upright, 
and  conscientious  men,  whose  feelings  were 
harrowed  by  a  sense  of  the  injustice,  the  in- 
decorum, and  the  unchristian  treatment,  they 
received.  And  when  a  temporary  impression 
was  made  on  the  public  mind,  and  its  oppo- 
nents supposed  they  had  succeeded  in  crush- 
ing this  society,  the  most  public  and  triumph- 
ant exultation  was  not  repressed.  Compare 
this  method  of  carrying  a  point,  with  that 

c 


26 

adopted  by  Wilbeiforce  and  his  compeers, 
and  I  think  you  will  allow  that  there  was  a 
way  that  was  peaceful  and  christian,  and 
that  this  w^as  not  the  way  which  was  chosen. 
<»  The  next  measure  of  Abolitionism  was  an 
attempt  to  remove  the  prejudices  of  the  whites 
against  the  blacks,  on  account  of  natural  pe- 
culiarities. Now,  prejudice  is  an  unreasona- 
ble and  groundless  dislike  of  persons  or  things. 
Of  course,  as  it  is  unreasonable,  it  is  the  most 
difficult  of  all  things  to  conquer,  and  the  worst 
and  most  irritating  method  that  could  be  at- 
tempted would  be,  to  attack  a  man  as  guilty 
of  sin,  as  unreasonable,  as  ungenerous,  or  as 
proud,  for  allowing  a  certain  prejudice. 

This  is  the  sure  way  to  produce  anger,  self- 
justification,  and  an  increase  of  the  strength 
of  prejudice,  against  that  which  has  caused 
him  this  rebuke  and  irritation. 

The  best  way  to  make  a  person  like  a  thing 
which  is  disagreeable,  is  to  try  in  some  way 
to  make  it  agreeable;  and  if  a  certain  class 
of  persons  is  the  subject  of  unreasonable  pre- 
judice, the  peaceful  and  christian  way  of  re- 
moving it  would  be  to  endeavour  lo  render 


27 

the  unfortunate  persons  who  compose  this 
class,  so  useful,  so  humble  and  unassuming, 
so  kind  in  their  feelings,  and  so  full  of  love 
and  good  works,  that  prejudice  would  be  sup- 
planted by  complacency  in  their  goodness, 
and  pity  and  sympathy  for  their  disabilities. 
If  tlTP_friPTirls  pf  thp  hlarUs  had  quictly  set 
thems^fves  to  work  to  increase  their  intelli- 
gence, their  usefulness,  their  respectability, 
their  meekness,  gentleness,  and  benevolence, 
and  then  had  appealed  to  the  pity,  generosity, 
and  christian  feelings  of  their  fellow  citizens, 
a  very  different  result  would  have  appeared. 
Instead  of  this,  reproaches,  rebukes,  and 
sneers,  were  employed  to  convince  the  whites 
that  their  prejudices  were  sinful,  and  without 
any  just  cause.  They  were  accused  of  pride, 
of  selfish  indifference,  of  unchristian  neglect. 
This  tended  to  irritate  the  whites,  and  to  in- 
crease their  prejudice  against  the  blacks,  who 
thus  were  made  the  causes  of  rebuke  and 
exasperation.  Then,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
blacks  extensively  received  the  Liberator, 
and  learned  to  imbibe  the  spirit  of  its  con- 
ductor. 


28 

They  were  taught  to  feel  that  they  were 
injured  and  abused,  the  objects  of  a  guiUy  and 
unreasonable  prejudice — that  they  occupied 
a  lower  place  in  society  than  was  right — 
that  they  ought  to  be  treated  as  if  they 
were  whites;  and  in  repeated  instances,  at- 
tempts were  made  by  their  friends  to  mingle 
them  with  whites,  so  as  to  break  down  the 
existing  distinctions  of  society.  Now,  the 
question  is  not,  whether  these  things,  that 
were  urged  by  Abolitionists,  were  true.  The 
thing  maintained  is,  that  the  method  taken  by 
them  to  remove  this  prejudice  was  neither 
peaceful  nor  christian  in  its  tendency,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  was  calculated  to  increase  the 
evil,  and  to  generate  anger,  pride,  and  recri- 
mination, on  one  side,  and  envy,  discontent, 
and  revengeful  feehngs,  on  the  other. 

These  are  some  of  the  general  measures 
which  have  been  exhibited  in  the  Abolition 
movement.  The  same  peculiarities  maybe  as 
distinctly  seen  in  specific  cases,  where  the 
peaceful  and  quiet  way  of  accomplishing  the 
good  was  neglected,  and  the  one  most  calcu- 
lated to  excite  wrath  and  strife  was  chosen. 


29 

Take,  for  example,  the  ellbrt  to  establish  a 
college  for  coloured  persons.  The  quiet, 
peaceful,  and  christian  way  of  doing  such  a 
thing,  would  have  been,  for  those  who  were 
interested  in  the  plan,  to  furnish  the  money 
necessary,  and  then  to  have  selected  a  retired 
place,  where  there  would  be  the  least  preju- 
dice and  opposition  to  be  met,  and  there,  in  an 
unostentatious  wav,  commenced  the  educa- 
tion  of  the  youth  to  be  thus  sustained.  In- 
stead of  this,  at  a  time  when  the  public  mind 
was  excited  on  the  subject,  it  was  noised 
abroad  that  a  college  for  blacks  was  to  be 
founded.  Then  a  city  was  selected  for  its 
location,  where  was  another  college,  so  large 
as  to  demand  constant  effort  and  vigilance  to 
preserve  quiet  subordination  ;  where  contests 
with  "  sailors  and  town  boys"  were  barely 
kept  at  bay;  a  college  embracing  a  large 
proportion  of  southern  students,  who  were 
highly  excited  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and 
emancipation;  a  college  where  half  the  shoe- 
blacks and  waiters  were  coloured  men.  Be- 
side the  very  walls  of  this  college,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  found  a  college  for  coloured  young 

c2 


30 

men.  Could  it  be  otherwise  than  that  oppo- 
sition, and  that  for  the  best  of  reasons,  would 
arise  against  such  an  attempt,  both  from  the 
faculty  of  the  college  and  the  citizens  of  the 
place?  Could  it  be  reasonably  expected  that 
they  would  not  oppose  a  measure  so  calcu- 
lated to  increase  their  own  difficulties  and 
liabilities,  and  at  the  same  time  so  certain  to 
place  the  proposed  institution  in  the  most  un- 
favourable of  all  circumstances?  But  when 
the  measure  was  opposed,  instead  of  yielding 
meekly  and  peaceably  to  such  reasonable  ob- 
jections, and  soothing  the  feelings  and  appre- 
hensions that  had  been  excited,  by  putting  the 
best  construction  on  the  matter,  and  seeking 
another  place,  it  was  claimed  as  an  evidence 
of  opposition  to  the  interests  of  the  blacks, 
and  as  a  mark  of  the  force  of  sinful  prejudice. 
The  worst,  rather  than  the  best,  motives  were 
ascribed  to  some  of  the  most  respectable,  and 
venerated,  and  pious  men,  who  opposed  the 
measure ;  and  a  great  deal  was  said  and  done 
that  was  calculated  to  throw  the  community 
into  an  angry  ferment. 

Take  another  example.     If  a  prudent  and 


31 

benevolent  female  had  selected  almost  any 
village  in  New  England,  and  commenced  a 
school  for  coloured  females,  in  a  quiet,  appro- 
priate, and  unostentatious  way,  the  world 
would  never  have  heard  of  the  case,  except 
to  applaud  her  benevolence,  and  the  kindness 
of  the  villagers,  who  aided  her  in  the  effort. 
But  instead  of  this,  there  appeared  public  ad- 
vertisements, (which  I  saw  at  the  time,)  stat- 
ing that  a  seminary  for  the  education  of 
young  ladies  of  colour  was  to  be  opened  in 
Canterbury,  in  the  state  of  Connecticut,  where 
would  be  taught  music  on  the  piano  forte, 
drawing,  &c.,  together  with  a  course  of  Eng- 
lish education.  Now,  there  are  not  a  dozen 
coloured  families  in  New  England,  in  such 
pecuniary  circumstances,  that  if  they  were 
whites  it  would  not  be  thought  ridiculous  to 
attempt  to  give  their  daughters  such  a  course 
of  education,  and  Canterbury  was  a  place 
where  but  few  of  the  wealthiest  families  ever 
thought  of  furnishing  such  accomplishments 
for  their  children.  Several  other  particulars 
might  be  added  that  were  exceedingly  irri- 
tating, but  this  may  serve  as  a  specimen  of 


3-2 

the  method  in  which  the  whole  aflair  was 
conducted.  It  w^as  an  entire  disregard  of  the 
prejudices  and  the  proprieties  of  society,  and 
calculated  to  stimulate  pride,  anger,  ill-will, 
contention,  and  all  the  bitter  feelings  that 
spring  from  such  collisions.  Then,  instead 
of  adopting  measures  to  soothe  and  concihate, 
rebukes,  sneers  and  denunciations,  were  em- 
ployed, and  Canterbury  and  Connecticut  were 
held  up  to  public  scorn  and  rebuke  for  doing 
what  most  other  communities  would  proba- 
bly have  done,  if  similarly  tempted  and  pro- 
voked. 

Take  another  case.  It  was  deemed  expe- 
dient by  Abolitionists  to  establish  an  Abolition 
paper,  first  in  Kentucky,  a  slave  State.  It 
was  driven  from  that  State,  either  by  violence 
or  by  threats.  It  retreated  to  Ohio,  one  of 
the  free  States.  In  selecting  a  place  for  its 
location,  it  migrht  have  been  established  in  a 
small  place,  where  the  people  were  of  similar 
views,  or  were  not  exposed  to  dangerous  po- 
pular excitements.  But  Cincinnati  was  se- 
lected; and  when  the  most  intelligent,  the 
most  reasonable,  and  the   most  patriotic  of 


33 

the  citizens  remonstrated, — when  they  repre- 
sented that  there  were  pecuUar  and  unusual 
liabiHties  to  popular  excitement  on  this  sub- 
ject,— that  the  organization  and  powder  of  the 
poHce  made  it  extremely  dangerous  to  excite 
a  mob,  and  almost  impossible  to  control  it, — 
that  all  the  good  aimed  at  could  be  accom- 
plished by  locating  the  press  in  another  place, 
where  there  were  not  such  dangerous  liabi- 
lities,— when  they  kindly  and  respectfully 
urged  these  considerations,  they  were  disre- 
garded. I  myself  was  present  when  a  sincere 
friend  urged  upon  the  one  who  controlled  that 
paper,  the  obligations  of  good  men,  not  merely 
to  avoid  breaking  wholesome  laws  them- 
selves, but  the  duty  of  regarding  the  liabilities 
of  others  to  temptation;  and  that  where  Chris- 
tians could  foresee  that  by  placing  certain 
temptations  in  the  way  of  their  fellow-men, 
all  the  probabilities  were,  that  they  would 
yield,  and  yet  persisted  in  doing  it,  the  tempt- 
ers became  partakers  in  the  guilt  of  those  who 
yielded  to  the  temptation.  But  these  remon- 
strances were  ineffectual.  The  paper  must 
not  only  be  printed  and  circulated,  but  it  must 


31 

be  stationed  where  were  the  greatest  proba- 
bihties  that  measures  of  illegal  violence  w^ould 
ensue.  And  when  the  evil  was  perpetrated, 
and  a  mob  destroyed  the  press,  then  those 
who  had  urged  on  these  measures  of  tempta- 
tion, turned  upon  those  who  had  advised  and 
'  remonstrated,  as  the  guilty  authors  of  the 
violence,  because,  in  a  season  of  excitement, 
the  measures  adopted  to  restrain  and  control 
the  mob,  were  not  such  as  were  deemed  suit- 
able and  right. 

Now,  in  all  the  above  cases,  I  w^ould  by  no 
means  justify  the  wa^ong  or  the  injudicious 
measures  that  may  have  been  pursued,  un- 
der this  course  of  provocation.  The  great- 
ness of  temptation  does  by  no  means  release 
men  from  obligation;  but  Christians  are 
bound  to  remember  that  it  is  a  certain 
consequence  of  throwing  men  into  strong 
excitement,  that  thev  will  act  unwisely  and 
wrong,  and  that  the  tempter  as  well  as  the 
tempted  are  held  responsible,  both  by  God 
and  man.  In  all  these  cases,  it  cannot  but 
appear  that  the  good  aimed  at  might  have 
been  accomplished  in  a  quiet,  peaceable,  and 


35 

christian  way,  and  that  this  was  not  the  way 
which  was  chosen. 

The  whole  system  of  AboHtion  measures 
seems  to  leave  entirely  out  of  view,  the  obli- 
gation of  Christians  to  save  their  fellow  men 
from  all  needless  temptations.  If  the  thing  to 
be  done  is  only  lawful  and  right,  it  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  a  matter  of  effort  to  do 
it  in  such  a  way  as  would  not  provoke  and 
irritate;  but  often,  if  the  chief  aim  had  been 
to  do  the  good  in  the  most  injurious  and  of- 
fensive way,  no  more  certain  and  appropriate 
methods  could  have  been  devised. 

So  much  has  this  been  the  character  of 
AboHtion  movements,  that  many  have  sup- 
posed it  to  be  a  deliberate  and  systematized 
plan  of  the  leaders  to  do  nothing  but  what  was 
strictly  a  nght  guaranteed  by  law,  and  yet, 
in  such  a  manner,  as  to  provoke  men  to  anger, 
so  that  unjust  and  illegal  acts  might  ensue, 
knowing,  that  as  a  consequence,  the  opposers 
of  Abolition  would  be  thrown  into  the  wrong, 
and  sympathy  be  aroused  for  Abolitionists  as 
injured  and  persecuted  men.  It  is  a  fact, 
that  Abolitionists  have  taken  tlie  course  most 


36 

calculated  to  awaken  illegal  acts  of  violence, 
and  that  when  they  have  ensued,  they  have 
seemed  to  rejoice  in  them,  as  calculated  to  ad- 
vance and  strengthen  their  cause.  The  vio- 
lence of  mobs,  the  denunciations  and  unrea- 
sonable requirements  of  the  South,  the  denial 
of  the  right  of  petition,  the  restrictions  attempt- 
ed to  be  laid  upon  freedom  of  speech,  and  free- 
dom of  the  press,  are  generally  spoken  of  with 
exultation  by  Abolitionists,  as  what  are  among 
the  chief  means  of  promoting  their  cause.  It 
is  not  so  much  by  exciting  feelings  of  pity  and 
humanity,  and  Christian  love,  towards  the  op- 
pressed, as  it  is  by  awakening  indignation  at 
the  treatpfient  of  Abolitionists  themselves,  that 
their  cause  has  prospered.  How  many  men 
have  declared  or  implied,  that  in  joining  the 
ranks  of  Abolition,  they  were  influenced,  not 
by  their  arguments,  or  by  the  wisdom  of  their 
course,  but  because  the  violence  of  opposers 
had  identified  that  cause  with  the  question  of 
freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of  the  press,  and 
civil  liberty. 

But  when  I  say  that  many  have  supposed 
that  it  was  the  deliberate  intention  of  the  Abo- 


37 

litionists  to  fQmentJ]legaLacts_jii^^ 
I  would  by  no  means  justify  a  supposition, 
which  is  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  justice  and 
charity.  The  leaders  of  the  Abolition  Society 
disclaim  all  such  wishes  or  intentions ;  they 
only  act  apparently  on  the  assumption  that 
they  are  exercising  just  rights,  which  they  are 
not  bound  to  give  up,  because  other  men  will 
act  unreasonably  and  wickedly. 

Another  measure  of  Abolitionists,  calculat- 
ed to  awaken  evil  feelings,  has  been  the  treat- 
ment of  those  who  objected  to  their  proceed- 
ings. 

A  large  majority  of  the  philanthropic  and 
pious,  who  hold  common  views  with  the  Abo- 
litionists, as  to  the  sin  and  evils  of  slavery, 
and  the  duty  of  using  all  appropriate  means 
to  bring  it  to  an  end,  have  opposed  their  mea- 
sures, because  they  have  believed  them  not 
calculated  to  promote,  but  rather  to  retard 
the  end  proposed  to  be  accomplished  by  them. 
The  peaceful  and  Christian  method  of  en- 
countering such  opposition,  would  have  been 
to  allow  the  opponents  full  credit  for  purity 
and  integrity  of  motive,  to  have  avoided  all 

D 


38 

harsh  and  censorious  language,  and  to  have 
employed  facts,  arguments  and  persuasions, 
in  a  kind  and  respectful  way  with  the  hope 
of  modifying  their  views  and  allaying  their 
fears.  Instead  of  this,  the  wise  and  good  who 
opposed  Abolition  measures,  have  been  treated 
as  though  they  were  the  friends  and  defend- 
ers of  slavery,  or  as  those  who,  from  a  guilty, 
timid,  time-serving  pohcy,  refused  to  take  the 
course  which  duty  demanded.  They  have 
been  addressed  either  as  if  it  were  necessary 
to  convince  them  that  slavery  is  wrong  and 
ought  to  be  abandoned,  or  else,  as  if  they 
needed  to  be  exhorted  to  give  up  their  timi- 
dity and  selfish  interest,  and  to  perform  a 
manifest  duty,  which  they  were  knowingly 
neglecting. 

Now  there  is  nothing  more  irritating,  when 
a  man  is  conscientious  and  acting  according 
to  his  own  views  of  right,  than  to  be  dealt 
with  in  this  manner.  The  more  men  are 
treated  as  if  they  were  honest  and  sincere — 
the  more  they  are  treated  with  respect,  fair- 
ness, and  benevolence,  the  more  likely  they 
are  to  be  moved  by  evidence  and  arguments. 


39 

On  the  contrary,  harshness,  iincharitableness, 
and  rebuke,  for  opinions  and  conduct  that  are 
in  agreement  with  a  man's  own  views  of  duty 
and"  rectitude,  tend  to  awaken  evil  feelings, 
and  indispose  the  mind  properly  to  regard 
evidence.  Abolitionists  have  not  only  taken 
this  course,  but  in  many  cases,  have  seemed  to 
act  on  the  principle,  that  the  abolition  of 
Slavery,  in  the  particular  mode  in  w^hich  they 
were  aiming  to  accomplish  it,  was  of  such 
paramount  importance,  that  every  thing  must 
be  overthrown  that  stood  in  the  way. 

No  matter  what  respect  a  man  had  gained 
for  talents,  virtue,  and  piety,  if  he  stood  in  the 
way  of  Abolitionism,  he  must  be  attacked  as 
to  character  and  motives.  No  matter  how 
important  an  institution  might  be,  if  its  in- 
fluence was  asrainst  the  measures  of  Abolition- 
ism,  it  must  be  attacked  openly,  or  sapped 
privately,  till  its  influence  was  destroyed.  By 
such  measures,  the  most  direct  means  have 
been  taken  to  awaken  anger  at  injury,  and  re- 
sentment at  injustice,  and  to  provoke  retalia- 
tion on  those  who  inflict  the  wrong.  All  the 
partialities  of  personal  friendship;  all  the  feel- 


40 

ings  of  respect  accorded  to  good  and  useful 
men;  all  the  interests  that  cluster  around  pub- 
lic institutions,  entrenched  in  the  hearts  of 
the  multitudes  who  sustain  them,  were  out- 
raged by  such  a  course. 
♦  Another  measure  of  Abolitionists,  which 
has  greatly  tended  to  promote  wrath  and 
strife,  is  their  indiscreet  and  incorrect  use  of 
terms. 

To  make  this  apparent,  it  must  be  premised, 
that  words  have  no  inherent  meaning,  but 
always  signify  that  which  they  are  common- 
ly understood  to  mean.  The  question  never 
should  be  asked,  what  ought  a  word  to  mean  1 
but  simply,  what  is  the  meaning  generally 
attached  to  this  word  by  those  who  use  it  1 
Vocabularies  and  standard  writers  are  the 
proper  umpires  to  decide  this  question.  Now 
if  men  take  words  and  give  them  a  new  and 
peculiar  use,  and  are  consequently  misunder- 
stood, they  are  guilty  of  a  species  of  decep- 
tion, and  are  accountable  for  all  the  evils  that 

may  ensue  as  a  consequence. 

For  example;  if  physicians  should  come  out 
and  declare,  that  it  was  their  opinion  that  they 


41 

ought  to  poison  all  their  patients,  and  they  had 
determined  to  do  it,  and  then  all  the  community 
should  be  thrown  into  terror  and  excitement, 
it  would  be  no  justification  for  them  to  say, 
that  all  they  intended  by  that  language  was, 
that  they  should  administer  as  medicines,  arti- 
cles which  are  usually  called  poisons. 

Now  Abolitionists  are  before  the  commu- 
nity, and  declare  that  all  slavery  is  sin,  which 
ought  to  be  immediately  forsaken;  and  that  it 
is  their  object  and  intention  to  promote  the 
immediate  emancipation  of  all  the  slaves  in 
this  nation. 

Now  w^hat  is  it  that  makes  a  man  cease 
to  be  a  slave  and  become  free?  It  is  not  kind 
treatment  from  a  master;  it  is  not  paying 
wages  to  the  slave ;  it  is  not  the  intention  to 
bestow  freedom  at  a  future  time;  it  is  not  treat- 
ing a  slave  as  if  he  were  free;  it  is  not  feeling 
toward  a  slave  as  if  he  were  free.  No  in- 
stance can  be  found  of  any  dictionary,  or  any 
standard  writer,  nor  any  case  in  common 
discourse,  where  any  of  these  sisfnifications 
are  attached  to  the  word  as  constituting  its 
peculiar  and  appropriate  meaning.    It  always 

d2 


42 

signifies  that  legal  act,  which,  by  the  laws  of 
the  land,  changes  a  slave  to  a  freeman. 

What  then  is  the  'proper  meaning  of  the  lan- 
guage used  by  Abolitionists,  when  they  say 
that  all  slavery  is  a  sin  which  ought  to  be  im- 
mediately abandoned,  and  that  it  is  their  ob- 
ject to  secure  the  immediate  emancipation  of 
all  slaves'? 

The  true  and  only  proper  meaning  of  such 
language  is,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  slave- 
holder in  this  nation,  to  go  immediately  and 
make  out  the  legal  instruments,  that,  by  the 
laws  of  the  land,  change  all  his  slaves  to  free- 
men. If  their  maxim  is  true,  no  exception 
can  be  made  for  those  who  live  in  States 
where  the  act  of  emancipation,  by  a  master, 
makes  a  slave  the  property  of  the  State,  to 
be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  State ;  and  no 
exception  can  be  made  for  those,  who,  by 
the  will  of  testators,  and  by  the  law  of  the  \ 
land,  have  no  power  to  perform  the  legal  act, 
which  alone  can  emancipate  their  slaves. 

To  meet  this  difficulty.  Abolitionists  affirm, 
that,  in  such  cases,  men  are  physically  unable 
to  emancipate  their  slaves,  and  of  course  are    ^ 


43 

not  bound  to  do  it ;  and  to  save  their  great 
maxim,  maintain  that,  in  such  cases,  the  slaves 
are  not  slaves,  and  the  slave-holders  are  not 
slave-holders,  although  all  their  legal  relations 
remain  unchanged. 

The  meaning  which  the  Abolitionist  at- 
taches to  his  language  is  this,  that  every  man 
is  bound  to  treat  his  slaves,  as  nearly  as  he 
can,:Hke  freemen ;  and  to  use  all  his  influence 
to  bring  the  system  of  slavery  to  an  end  as 
soon  as  possible.  And  they  allow  that  when 
men  do  this  they  are  free  from  guilt,  in  the 
matter  of  slavery,  and  undeserving  of  cen- 
sure. 

But  men  at  the  North,  and  men  at  the  South, 
understand  the  language  used  in  its  true  and 
proper  sense;  and  Abolitionists  have  been 
using  these  terms  in  a  new  and  peculiar  sense, 
which  is  inevitably  and  universally  misunder- 
stood, and  this  is  an  occasion  of  much  of  the 
strife  and  alarm  which  has  prevailed  both  at 
the  South  and  at  the  North.  There  are  none 
but  these  defenders  of  slavery  who  maintain 
that  it  is  a  relation  justifiable  by  the  laws  of 
the  Gospel,  who  difier  from  Abolitionists  in 


44 

regard  to  the  real  thing  which  is  meant. 
The  great  mistake  of  AboHtionists  is  in  using 
terms  which  inculcate  the  immediate  annihi- 
lation of  the  relation,  when  they  only  intend 
to  urge  the  Christian  duty  of  treating  slaves 
according  to  the  gospel  rules  of  justice  and 
benevolence,  and  using  all  lawful  and  appro- 
priate means  for  bringing  a  most  pernicious 
system  to  a  speedy  end. 

If  Abolitionists  will  only  cease  to  teach  that 
all  slave-holding  is  a  sin  which  ought  to  be 
i?nmediately  abolished ;  if  they  will  cease  to 
urge  their  plan  as  one  of  immediate  emancipa- 
tion, and  teach  simply  and  exactly  that  which 
they  do  mean,  much  strife  and  misunderstand- 
ing will  cease.  But  so  long  as  they  perse- 
vere in  using  these  terms  in  a  new  and  pe- 
culiar sense,  which  will  always  be  misunder- 
stood, they  are  guilty  of  a  species  of  decep- 
tion and  accountable  for  the  evils  that  follow. 
^  One  other  instance  of  a  similar  misuse  of 
terms  may  be  mentioned.  The  word  "  man- 
stealer"  has  one  pecuHar  signification,  and  it 
is  no  more  synonymous  with  "  slave-holder" 
than  it  is  with  "  sheep-stealer."     But  Aboli- 


45 

tionists  show  that  a  slave-holder,  in  fact,  does 
very  many  of  the  evils  that  are  perpetrated 
by  a  man-stealer,  and  that  the  crime  is  quite 
as  evil  in  its  nature,  and  very  similar  in  cha- 
racter, and,  therefore,  he  calls  a  slave-holder 
a  man-stealer. 

On  this  principle  there  is  no  abusive  lan- 
guage that  may  not  be  employed  to  render  any 
man  odious — for  every  man  commits  sin  of 
some  kind,  and  every  sin  is  like  some  other  sin, 
in  many  respects,  and  in  certain  aggravated 
cases,  may  be  bad,  or  even  v^orse,  than  an- 
other sin  with  a  much  more  odious  name.  It 
is  easy  to  show  that  a  man  who  neglects  all 
religious  duty  is  very  much  like  an  atheist, 
and  if  he  has  had  great  advantages,  and  the 
atheist  very  few,  he  may  be  much  more  guilty 
than  an  atheist.  And  so,  half  the  respecta- 
ble men  in  our  religious  communities,  may  be 
called  atheists,  with  as  much  propriety  as  a 
slave-holder  can  be  called  a  man-stealer. 
Abolitionists  have  proceeded  on  this  princi- 
ple, in  their  various  publications,  until  the 
terms  of  odium  that  have  been  showered 
upon  slave-holders,  would  form  a  large  page 


46 

in  the  vocabulary  of  Billingsgate.  This  method 
of  dealing  with  those  whom  we  wish  to  con- 
vince and  persuade,  is  as  contrary  to  the  dic- 
tates of  common  sense,  as  it  is  to  the  rules  of 
good  breeding  and  the  laws  of  the  gospel. 

The  preceding  particulars  are  selected,  as 
the  evidence  to  be  presented,  that  the  cha- 
racter and  measures  of  the  Abolition  Society 
are  neither  peaceful  nor  Christian  in  their 
tendency ;  but  that  in  their  nature  they  are 
calculated  to  generate  party-spirit,  denuncia- 
tion, recrimination,  and  angry  passions.  If 
such  be  the  tendency  of  this  institution,  it  fol- 
lows, that  it  is  wrong  for  a  Christian,  or  any 
lover  of  peace,  to  be  connected  with  it. 

The  assertion  that  Christianity  itself  has 
led  to  strife  and  contention,  is  not  a  safe  me- 
thod of  evading  this  argument.  Christianity 
is  a  system  oi persuasion,  tending,  by  kind  and 
gentle  influences,  to  make  men  willing  to  leave 
oif  their  sins — and  it  comes,  not  to  convince 
those  who  are  not  sinners,  but  to  sinners  them- 
selves. 

Abolitionism,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  system 
of  coercion  by  public  opinion;  and'in  its  pre- 


47 

sent  operation,  its  influence  is  not  to  convince 
the  erring,  but  to  convince  those  who  are  not 
guilty,  of  the  sins  of  those  who  are. 

Another  prominent  peculiarity  of  the  Abo- 
litionists, (which  is  an  objection  to  joining  this 
association,)  is  their  advocacy  of  a  principle, 
which  is  wrong  and  very  pernicious  in  its 
tendency.  I  refer  to  their  views  in  regard  to 
what  is  called  "  the  doctrine  of  expediency." 
Their  difficulty  on  this  subject  seems  to  have 
arisen  from  want  of  a  clear  distinction  be- 
tween the  duty  of  those  who  are  guilty  of 
sin,  and  the  duty  of  those  who  are  aiming  to 
turn  men  from  their  sins.  The  principle  is 
assumed,  that  because  certain  men  ought  to 
abandon  every  sin  immediately,  therefore, 
certain  other  men  are  bound  immediately  to 
try  and  make  them  do  it.  Now  the  question 
of  expediency  does  not  relate  to  what  men 
are  bound  to  do,  who  are  in  the  practice  of 
sin  themselves — for  the  immediate  relinquish- 
ment of  sin  is  the  duty  of  all;  but  it  relates  to 
the  duty  of  those  who  are  to  make  eflibrts  to 
induce  others  to  break  off  their  wickedness. 

Here,  the  wisdom  and  rectitude  of  a  given 


48 

course,  depend  entirely  on  the  probabilities  of 
success.  If  a  father  has  a  son  of  a  very  pe- 
culiar temperament,  and  he  knows  by  obser- 
vation, that  the  use  of  the  rod  will  make  him 
more  irritable  and  more  liable  to  a  certain 
fault,  and  that  kind  arguments,  and  tender 
measures  will  more  probably  accompHsh  the 
desired  object,  it  is  a  rule  of  expediency  to 
try  the  most  probable  course.  If  a  compan- 
ion sees  a  friend  committing  a  sin,  and  has, 
from  past  experience,  learned  that  remon- 
strances excite  anger  and  obstinacy,  while  a 
look  of  silent  sorrow  and  disapprobation  tends 
far  more  to  prevent  the  evil,  expediency  and 
duty  demand  silence  rather  than  remon- 
strance. 

There  are  cases  also,  where  differences  in 
age,  and  station,  and  character,  forbid  all  in- 
terference to  modify  the  conduct  and  cha- 
racter of  others. 

A  nursery  maid  may  see  that  a  father  mis- 
governs his  children,  and  ill-treats  his  wife. 
But  her  station  makes  it  inexpedient  for 
her  to  turn  reprover.  It  is  a  case  where  re- 
proof would  do  no  good,  but  only  evil. 


49 

So  in  communities,  the  propriety  and  rec- 
titude of  measures  can  be  decided,  not  by 
the  rules  of  duty  that  should  govern  those 
who  are  to  renounce  sin,  but  by  the  proba- 
bilities of  good  or  evil  consequence. 

The  Abolitionists  seem  to  lose  sight  of 
this  distinction.  They  form  voluntary  asso- 
ciations in  free  States,  to  convince  their  fel- 
low citizens  of  the  sins  of  other  men  in 
other  communities.  They  are  blamed  and 
opposed,  because  their  measures  are  deemed 
inexpedient,  and  calculated  to  increase,  rath- 
er than  diminish  the  evils  to  be  cured. 

In  return,  they  show  that  slavery  is  a  sin 
which  ought  to  be  abandoned  immediately, 
and  seem  to  suppose  that  it  follows  as  a  cor- 
rect inference,  that  they  themselves  ought  to 
engage  in  a  system  of  agitation  against  it, 
and  that  it  is  needless  for  them  to  inquire 
whether  preaching  the  truth  in  the  manner 
they  propose,  will  increase  or  diminish  the 
evil.  They  assume  that  whenever  sin  is  com- 
mitted, not  only  ought  the  sinner  imme- 
diately to  cease,  but  all  his  fellow-sinners  are 
bound  to  take  measures  to  make  him  cease, 

E 


50 

and  to  take  measures,  without  any  reference 
to  the  probabihties  of  success. 

That  this  is  a  correct  representation  of  the 
views  of  Abolitionists  generally,  is  evident 
from  their  periodicals  and  conversation.  All 
their  remarks  about  preaching  the  truth 
and  leaving  consequences  to  God — all  their 
depreciation  of  the  doctrine  of  expediency, 
are  rendered  relevant  only  by  this  suppo- 
sition. 

The  impression  made  by  their  writings  is, 
that  God  has  made  rules  of  duty;  that  all 
men  are  in  all  cases  to  remonstrate  against 
the  violation  of  those  rules;  and  that  God  will 
take  the  responsibility  of  bringing  good  out 
of  this  course ;  so  that  we  ourselves  are  re- 
lieved from  any  necessity  of  inquiring  as  to 
probable  results. 

If  this  be  not  the  theory  of  duty  adopted 
by  this  association,  then  they  stand  on  com- 
mon ground  with  those  who  oppose  their 
measures,  viz:  that  the  propriety  and  duty 
of  a  given  course  is  to  be  decided  by  proba- 
bilities as  to  its  results ;  and  these  probabili- 


51 

ties  are  to  be  determined  by  the  knoirn  laws 
of  mind,  and  the  records  of  past  experience. 

For  only  one  of  two  positions  can  be  held. 
Either  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  men  to  re- 
monstrate at  all  times  against  all  violations 
of  duty,  and  leave  the  consequences  with 
God  ;  or  else  that  men  are  to  use  their  judg- 
ment, and  take  the  part  of  remonstrance  only 
at  such  a  time  and  place,  and  in  such  a  man- 
ner, as  promise  the  best  results. 

That  the  AboHtionists  have  not  held  the 
second  of  these  positions,  must  be  obvious  to 
all  who  have  read  their  documents.  It  would 
therefore  be  unwise  and  wrong  to  join  an  as- 
sociation which  sustains  a  principle  false  in 
itself,  and  one  which,  if  acted  out,  would 
tend  to  wrath  and  strife  and  every  evil 
word  and  work. 

Another  reason,  and  the  most  important  of 
all,  against  promoting  the  plans  of  the  Abo- 
litionists, is  involved  in  the  main  question — 
what  are  the  prohahilities  as  to  the  results  of 
their  movements!  The  only  way  to  judge  of 
the  future  results  of  certain  measures  is,  by 

i 

LIBKAKY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  IL»-«N01S 
AT  URBANA-CHAf^PAlGt' 


52 

the  known  laws  of  mind,  and  the  recorded 
experience  of  the  past. 

Now  what  is  the  evil  to  be  cured  1 

Slavery  in  this  nation. 

That  this  evil  is  at  no  distant  period  to 
come  to  an  end,  is  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  all  who  either  notice  the  tendencies  of  the 
age,  or  believe  in  the  prophecies  of  the 
Bible.  All  who  act  on  Christian  principles 
in  regard  to  slavery,  believe  that  in  a  given 
period  (variously  estimated)  it  will  end. 
The  only  question  then,  in  regard  to  the 
benefits  to  be  gained,  or  the  evils  to  be  dread- 
ed in  the  present  agitation  of  the  subject,  re- 
lates to  the  time  and  the  manner  of  its  extinc- 
tion. The  Abolitionists  claim  that  their  me- 
thod will  bring  it  to  an  end  in  the  shortest 
time,  and  in  the  safest  and  best  way.  Their 
opponents  believe,  that  it  will  tend  to  bring  it 
to  an  end,  if  at  all,  at  the  most  distant  period, 
and  in  the  most  dangerous  way. 

As  neither  party  are  gifted  with  pres- 
cience, and  as  the  Deity  has  made  no  revela- 
tions as  to  the  future  results  of  any  given 
measures,  all  the  means  of  judging  that  re- 


53 

main  to  us,  as  before  stated,  are  the  laws  of 
mind,  and  the  records  of  the  past. 

The  position  then  I  would  aim  to  estabhsh 
is,  that  the  method  taken  by  the  Abolitionists 
is  the  one  that,  according  to  the  laws  of  mind 
and  past  experience,  is  least  likely  to  bring 
about  the  results  they  aim  to  accomplish. 
The  general  statement  is  this. 

The  object  to  be  accomplished  is : 

First.  To  convince  a  certain  community, 
that  they  are  in  the  practice  of  a  great  sin^ 
and 

Secondly,  To  make  them  willing  to  relin- 
quish it. 

The  method  taken  to  accomplish  this  is, 
by  voluntary  associations  in  a  foreign  com- 
munity, seeking  to  excite  public  sentiment 
against  the  perpetrators  of  the  evil;  exhibit- 
ing the  enormity  of  the  crime  in  full  measure, 
without  paUiation,  excuse  or  sympathy,  by 
means  of  periodicals  and  agents  circulating, 
not  in  the  community  committing  the  sin, 
but  in  that  which  does  not  practise  it. 

.  Now  that  this  method  may,  in  conjunction 
with  other  causes,  have  an  influence  to  bring 

e2 


54 

slavery  to  an  end,  is  not  denied.  But  it  is 
believed,  and  from  the  following  considera- 
tions, that  it  is  the  least  calculated  to  do  the 
goody  and  that  it  involves  the  greatest  evils. 

It  is  a  known  law  of  mind  first  seen  in  the 
nursery  and  school,  afterwards  developed  in 
society,  that  a  person  is  least  likely  to  judge 
correctly  of  truth,  and  least  likely  to  yield  to 
duty,  when  excited  by  passion. 

It  is  a  law  of  experience,  that  when  wrong 
is  done,  if  repentance  and  reformation  are 
sought,  then  love  and  kindness,  mingled  w^ith 
remonstrance,  coming  from  one  who  has  a 
right  to  speak,  are  more  successful  than  re- 
buke and  scorn  from  others  who  are  not  be- 
loved, and  who  are  regarded  as  impertinent 
intruders. 

In  the  nursery,  if  the  child  does  wrong, 
the  finger  of  scorn,  the  taunting  rebuke,  or 
even  the  fair  and  deserved  reproof  of  equals, 
will  make  the  young  culprit  only  frown  w^ith 
rage,  and  perhaps  repeat  and  increase  the 
injury.  But  the  voice  of  maternal  love,  or 
even  the  gentle  remonstrances  of  an  elder 


55 

sister,  may  bring  tears  of  sorrow  and  con- 
trition. 

So  in  society.  Let  a  man's  enemies,  or 
those  who  have  no  interest  in  his  welfare, 
join  to  rebuke  and  rail  at  his  offences,  and  no 
signs  of  penitence  will  be  seen.  But  let  the 
clergyman  whom  he  respects  and  loves,  or 
his  bosom  friend  approach  him,  with  kind- 
ness, forbearance  and  true  sincerity,  and  all 
that  is  possible  to  human  agency  will  be  ef- 
fected. 

It  is  the  maxim  then  of  experience,  that 
when  men  are  to  be  turned  from  evils,  and 
brought  to  repent  and  reform,  those  only 
should  interfere  who  are  most  loved  and  re- 
spected, and  who  have  the  best  right  to  ap- 
proach the  offender.  While  on  the  other 
hand,  rebuke  from  those  who  are  deemed 
obtrusive  and  inimical,  or  even  indifferent, 
will  do  more  harm  than  good. 

It  is  another  maxim  of  experience,  that 
such  deahngs  with  the  erring  should  be  in 
private,  not  in  public.  The  moment  a  man 
is  publicly  rebuked,  shame,  anger,  and  pride 


66 

of  opinion,  all  combine  to  make  him  defend 
his  practice,  and  refuse  either  to  own  him- 
self wrong,  or  to  cease  from  his  evil  ways. 

The  Abolitionists  have  violated  all  these 
laws  of  mind  and  of  experience,  in  dealing 
with  their  southern  brethren. 

Their  course  has  been  most  calculated  to 
awaken  anger,  fear,  pride,  hatred,  and  all 
the  passions  most  likely  to  bhnd  the  mind  to 
truth,  and  make  it  averse  to  duty. 

They  have  not  approached  them  wdth  the 
spirit  of  love,  courtesy,  and  forbearance. 

They  are  not  the  persons  who  would  be 
regarded  by  the  South,  as  having  any  right 
to  interfere;  and  therefore,  whether  they 
have  such  right  or  not,  the  probabilities  of 
good  are  removed.  For  it  is  not  only  demand- 
ed for  the  benefit  of  the  offender,  that  there 
should  really  be  a  right,  but  it  is  necessary 
that  he  should  feel  that  there  is  such  a  right. 

In  dealing  with  their  brethren,  too,  they 
have  not  tried  silent,  retired,  private  mea- 
sures. It  has  been  public  denunciation  of 
crime  and  shame  in  newspapers,  addressed 


57 

as  it  were  to  by-standers,  in  order  to  arouse 
the  guilty. 

In  reply  to  this,  it  has  been  urged,  that 
men  could  not  go  to  the  South — that  they 
would  be  murdered  there — that  the  only  way 
was,  to  convince  the  North,  and  excite  pub- 
lic odium  against  the  sins  of  the  South,  and 
thus  gradually  conviction,  repentance,  and 
reformation  would  ensue. 

Here  is  another  case  where  men  are  to 
judge  of  their  duty,  by  estimating  probabili- 
ties of  future  results ;  and  it  may  first  be  ob- 
served, that  it  involves  the  principle  of  ex- 
pediency, in  just  that  form  to  which  Aboli- 
tionists object. 

It  is  allowed  that  the  immediate  abohtion 
of  slavery  is  to  be  produced  by  means  of 
"  light  and  love,"  and  yet  it  is  maintained  as 
right  to  withdraw  personally  from  the  field  of 
operation,  because  of  consequences ;  because 
of  the  probable  danger  of  approaching.  "  If 
we  go  to  the  South,  and  present  truth,  argu- 
ment, and  entreaty,  we  shall  be  slain,  and 
therefore  we  are  not  under  obligation  to  go." 
If  this  justifies  Abolitionists  in  their  neglect 


58 

of  their  offending  brethren,  because  they 
fear  evil  resuhs  to  themselves,  it  also  justifies 
those  who  refuse  to  act  with  Abolitionists  in 
their  measures,  because  they  fear  other  evil 
results. 

But  what  proof  is  there,  that  if  the  Aboli- 
tionists had  taken  another  method,  the  one 
more  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  mind 
and  the  dictates  of  experience,  that  there 
would  have  been  at  the  South  all  this  vio- 
lence? Before  the  abolition  movement  com- 
menced, both  northern  and  southern  men, 
expressed  their  views  freely  at  the  South. 
The  dangers,  evils,  and  mischiefs  of  slavery 
were  exhibited  and  discussed  even  in  the 
legislative  halls  of  more  than  one  of  the 
Southern  States,  and  many  minds  were  anx- 
iously devising  measures,  to  bring  this  evil  to 
an  end. 

Now  let  us  look  at  some  of  the  records  of 
past  experience.  Clarkson  was  the  first  per- 
son who  devoted  himself  to  the  cause  of 
Abolition  in  England.  His  object  was  to 
convince  the  people  of  England  that  they 
were  guilty  of  a  great  impolicy,  and  great 


59 

sin,  in  permitting  the  slave-trade.  He  was 
to  meet  the  force  of  public  sentiment,  and 
power,  and  selfishness,  and  wealth,  which 
sustained  this  trafic,  in  that  nation.  What 
were  his  measures?  He  did  not  go  to  Swe- 
den, or  Russia,  or  France,  to  awaken  puUic 
sentiment  against  the  sins  of  the  EngHsh. — 
He  began  by  first  publishing  an  inquiry  in 
England  whether  it  was  right  to  seize  men, 
and  make  them  slaves.  He  went  unostenta- 
tiously to  some  of  the  best  and  most  pious 
men  there,  and  endeavoured  to  interest  them 
in  the  inquiry. 

Then  he  published  an  article  on  the  im- 
policy of  the  slave-trade,  showing  its  disad- 
vantages. Then  he  collected  information  of 
the  evils  and  enormities  involved  in  the  traffic, 
and  went  quietly  around  among  those  most 
likely  to  be  moved  by  motives  of  humanity 
and  Christianity.  In  this  manner  he  toiled 
for  more  than  fourteen  years,  slowly  im- 
planting the  leaven  among  the  good  men, 
until  he  gained  a  noble  band  of  patriots  and 
Christians,  with  Wilberforce  at  their  head. 

The  following  extract  from  a  memoir  of 


60 

Clarkson  discloses  the  manner  and  spirit  in 
which  he  commenced  his  enterprise,  and 
toiled  through  to  its  accomplishment. 

"  In  1785  Dr.  Peckhard,  Vice-Chancellor 
of  the  University,  deeply  impressed  with  the 
iniquity  of  the  slave-trade,  announced  as  a 
subject  for  a  Latin  Dissertation  to  the  Senior 
Bachelors  of  Arts :  '  Anne  liceat  invitos  in 
servitutem  dare  V  '  Is  it  right  to  make  slaves 
of  others  against  their  W\\\  V  However  bene- 
volent the  feehngs  of  the  Vice-Chancellor, 
and  however  strong  and  clear  the  opinions 
he  held  on  the  inhuman  traffic,  it  is  probable 
that  he  little  thought  that  this  discussion 
would  secure  for  the  object  so  dear  to  his 
own  heart,  efforts  and  advocacy  equally  en- 
lightened and  efficient,  that  should  be  con- 
tinued, until  his  country  had  declared,  not 
that  the  slave-trade  only,  but  that  slavery 
itself  should  cease. 

"  Mr.  Clarkson,  having  in  the  preceding 
year  gained  the  first  prize  for  the  Latin  Dis- 
sertation, was  naturallv  anxious  to  maintain 
his  honourable  position ;  and  no  efforts  w^ere 
spared,  during  the  few  intervening  weeks,  in 


61 

collectinsf  information  and  evidence.  Im- 
portant  facts  were  gained  from  Anthony 
Benezet's  Historical  Account  of  Guinea, 
which  Mr.  Clarkson  hastened  to  London  to 
purchase.  Furnished  with  these  and  other 
valuable  information,  he  commenced  his  dif- 
ficult task.  How  it  was  accomphshed,  he 
thus  informs  us. 

"*No  person,'  he  states,*  *can  tell  the 
severe  trial  which  the  writing  of  it  proved  to 
me.  I  had  expected  pleasure  from  the  in- 
vention of  the  arguments,  from  the  arrange- 
ment of  them,  from  the  putting  of  them 
together,  and  from  the  thought,  in  the  inte- 
rim, that  I  was  engaged  in  an  innocent  con- 
test for  literary  honour.  But  all  my  pleasure 
was  damped  by  the  facts  which  were  now 
continuallv  before  me.  It  was  but  one 
gloomy  subject  from  morning  to  night.  In 
the  day-time  I  was  uneasy;  in  the  night  I 
had  little  rest.  I  sometimes  never  closed  my 
eyelids  for  grief  It  became  now  not  so 
much  a  trial  for  academical  reputation,  as  for 

•  History  of  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade. 

F 


62 

the  production  of  a  work  which  might  be 
useful  to  injured  Africa.  And  keeping  this 
idea  in  my  mind  ever  after  the  perusal  of 
Benezet,  I  always  slept  with  a  candle  in  my 
room,  that  I  might  rise  out  of  bed,  and  put 
down  such  thoughts  as  might  occur  to  me  in 
the  night,  if  I  judged  them  valuable,  conceiv- 
ing that  no  arguments  of  any  moment  should 
be  lost  in  so  great  a  cause.  Having  at  length 
finished  this  painful  task,  I  sent  my  Essay  to 
the  Vice-Chancellor,  and  soon  afterwards 
found  myself  honoured,  as  before,  with  the 
first  prize. 

"  *  As  it  is  usual  to  read  these  essays  pub- 
licly in  the  senate-house  soon  after  the  prize 
is  adjudged,  I  w^as  called  to  Cambridge  for 
this  purpose.  I  went,  and  performed  my 
office.  On  returning,  however,  to  London, 
the  subject  of  it  almost  wholly  engrossed  my 
thoughts.  I  became  at  times  very  seriously 
affected  while  upon  the  road.  I  stopped  my 
horse  occasionally,  and  dismounted,  and 
walked.  I  frequently  tried  to  persuade  my- 
self in  these  intervals  that  the  contents  of 
my  Essay  could  not  be  true.     The   more. 


A 


f53 

however,  I  reflected  upon  them,  or  rather 
upon  the  authorities  on  which  they  were 
founded,  the  more  I  gave  them  credit.  Com- 
ing in  sight  of  Wade's  Mill,  in  Hertfordshire, 
I  sat  down  disconsolate  on  the  turf  by  the 
road-side,  and  held  my  horse.  Here  a 
thought  came  into  my  mind,  that  if  the  con- 
tents of  the  Essav  were  true,  it  was  time 
some  person  should  see  these  calamities  to 
their  end.  Agitated  in  this  manner,  I  reach- 
ed home.  This  was  in  the  summer  of  1785. 
"  *  In  the  course  of  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year  I  experienced  similar  impressions.  I 
walked  frequently  into  the  woods,  that  I 
might  think  on  the  subject  in  sohtude,  and 
find  relief  to  my  mind  there.  But  there  the 
question  still  recurred,  '  Are  these  things 
true?'  Still  the  answer  followed  as  instan- 
taneously,— '  They  are.'  Still  the  result  ac- 
companied it ;  '  Then,  surely,  some  person 
should  interfere.'  I  then  began  to  envy  those 
who  had  seats  in  parliament,  and  who  had 
great  riches,  and  widely  extended  connexions, 
which  would  enable  them  to  take  up  this 
cause.      Finding  scarcely  any  one  at  that 


64 

time  who  thought  of  it,  I  was  turned  fre- 
quently to  myself.  But  here  many  difficulties 
arose.     It  struck  me,  among  others,  that  a 
young  man  of  only  twenty-four  years  of  age 
could  not  have  that  soUd  judgment,  or  know- 
ledge of  men,  manners,  and  things,  which 
were  requisite  to  qualify  him  to  undertake 
a  task    of    such    magnitude    and    import- 
ance :  and  with  whom  was  I  to  unite  ?    I 
believed  also,  that  it  looked  so  much  like  one 
of  the  feigned  labours  of  Hercules,  that  my 
understanding  would  be  suspected  if  I  pro- 
posed it.     On  ruminating,  however,  on  the 
subject,  I  found  one  thing  at  least  practica- 
ble, and  that  this  was  also   in  my  power. 
I  could  translate  my  Latin  Dissertation.     I 
could  enlarge  it  usefully.     I  could  see  how 
the  public  received  it,  or  how  far  they  were 
likely  to  favour  any  serious  measures,  which 
should  have  a  tendency  to  produce  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  slave-trade.     Upon  this,  then,  I 
determined ;  and  in  the  middle  of  the  month 
of  November,  1785,  I  began  my  work.' 

"  Such  is  the  characteristic  and  ingenuous 
account  given  by  Clarkson  of  his  introduc- 


G5 

lion  to  that  work  to  which  the  energies  of 
his  life  were  devoted,  and  in  reference  to 
w^hich,  and  to  the  account  whence  the  fore- 
going extract  has  been  made,  one  of  the  most 
benevolent  and  gifted  WTiters  of  our  country* 
has  justly  observed, — 

"  '  This  interesting  tale  is  related,  not  by  a 
descendant,  but  a  cotemporary;  not  by  a 
distant  spectator,  but  by  a  participator  of  the 
contest;  and  of  all  the  many  participators, 
by  the  man  confessedly  the  most  efficient ; 
the  man  whose  unparalleled  labours  in  this 
work  of  love  and  peril,  leave  on  the  mind  of 
a  reflecting  reader  the  sublime  doubt,  w^hich 
of  the  two  will  have  been  the  greater  final 
gain  to  the  moral  world, — the  removal  of  the 
evil,  or  the  proof,  thereby  given,  what  mighty 
effects  single  good  men  may  realize  by  self- 
devotion  and  perseverance.' 

"  When  Mr.  Clarkson  went  to  London  to 
publish  his  book,  he  was  introduced  to  many 
friends  of  the  cause  of  Abolition,  who  aided 
in   giving  it  extensive  circulation.     Whilst 

*  Coleridg-e. 
f2 


66 

thus  employed,  he  received  an  invitation, 
which  he  accepted,  to  visit  the  Rev.  James 
Ramsay,  vicar  of  Teston,  in  Kent,  who  had 
resided  nineteen  years  in  the  island  of  St. 
Christopher. 

"  Shortly  afterwards,  dining  one  day  at 
Sir  Charles  Middleton's,  (afterwards  Lord 
Barham,)  the  conversation  turned  upon  the 
subject,  and  Mr.  Clarkson  declared  that  he 
was  ready  to  devote  himself  to  the  cause.  This 
avowal  met  with  great  encouragement  from 
the  company,  and  Sir  C.  Middleton,  then 
Comptroller  to  the  Navy,  offered  every  pos- 
sible assistance.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Clarkson 
increased,  and  this  encouraged  him  to  pro- 
ceed. Dr.  Porteus,  then  Bishop  of  Chester, 
and  Lord  Scarsdale,  were  secured  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  Mr.  Bennet  I^angton,  and 
Dr.  Baker,  who  were  acquainted  with  many 
members  of  both  houses  of  parHament ;  the 
honoured  Granville  Sharpe,  James  and  Rich- 
ard Phillips,  could  be  depended  upon,  as  well 
as  the  entire  body  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
to  many  of  whom  he  had  been  introduced 
by  Mr.  Joseph  Hancock,  his  fellow-townsman. 


67 

Seekinsj  information  in  every  direction,  Mr. 
Clarkson  boarded  a  number  of  vessels  en- 
gaged in  the  African  trade,  and  obtained 
specimens  of  the  natural  productions  of  the 
country.  The  beauty  of  the  cloth  made  from 
African  cotton,  &c.  enhanced  his  estimate  of 
the  skill  and  ingenuity  of  the  people,  and 
gave  a  fresh  stimulus  to  his  exertions  on  their 
behalf.  He  next  visited  a  slave-ship ;  the 
rooms  below,  the  gratings  above,  and  the 
barricade  across  the  deck,  with  the  explana- 
tion of  their  uses,  though  the  sight  of  them 
filled  him  with  sadness  and  horror,  gave  new 
energy  to  all  his  movements.  In  his  inde- 
fatigable endeavours  to  collect  evidence  and 
facts,  he  visited  most  of  the  sea-ports  in  the 
kingdom,  pursuing  his  great  object  with  in- 
vincible ardour,  although  sometimes  at  the 
peril  of  his  life.  The  following  circumstance, 
among  others,  evinces  the  eminent  degree  in 
which  he  possessed  that  untiring  perseve- 
rance, on  which  the  success  of  a  great  enter- 
prise often  depends. 

"  Clarkson  and  his  friends  had  reason  ta 
fear  that  slaves  brought  from  the  interior  of 


68 

Africa  by  certain  rivers,  had  been  kidnapped; 
and  it  was  deemed  of  great  importance  to 
ascertain  the  fact.  A  friend  one  day  men- 
tioned to  Mr.  Clarkson,  that  he  had,  above 
twelve  months  before,  seen  a  sailor  who  had 
been  up  these  rivers.  The  name  of  the  sailor 
was  unknown,  and  all  the  friend  could  say 
was,  that  he  was  going  to,  or  belonged  to, 
some  man-of-war  in  ordinary.  The  evidence 
of  this  individual  was  important,  and,  aided 
by  his  friend  Sir  Charles  Middleton,  who 
gave  him  permission  to  board  all  the  ships  of 
war  in  ordinary,  Mr.  Clarkson  commenced 
his  search  : — beginning  at  Deptford,  he  visit- 
ed successfully  Woolwich,  Chatham,  Sheer- 
ness,  and  Portsmouth ;  examining  in  his  pro- 
gress the  different  persons  on  board  upwards 
of  two  hundred  and  sixty  vessels,  without 
discovering  the  object  of  his  search.  The 
feelings  under  which  the  search  was  con- 
tinued, and  the  success  with  which  it  was 
crowned,  he  has  himself  thus  described: — 

"  '  Matters  now  began  to  look  rather  dis- 
heartening,— I  mean  as  far  as  my  grand  ob- 
ject  was  concerned.     There   was   but   one 


69 

Other  port  left,  and  this  was  between  two  and 
three  hundred  miles  distant.  I  determined, 
however,  to  go  to  Plymouth.  I  had  already- 
been  more  successful  in  this  tour,  with  re- 
spect to  obtaining  general  evidence,  than  in 
any  other  of  the  same  length ;  and  the  pro- 
bability was,  that  as  I  should  continue  to 
move  among  the  same  kind  of  people,  my 
success  would  be  in  a  similar  proportion,  ac- 
cording to  the  number  visited.  These  were 
great  encouragements  to  me  to  proceed.  At 
length  I  arrived  at  the  place  of  my  last  hope. 
On  my  first  day's  expedition  I  boarded  forty 
vessels,  but  found  no  one  in  these  who  had 
been  on  the  coast  of  Africa  in  the  slave-trade. 
One  or  two  had  been  there  in  king's  ships; 
but  they  never  had  been  on  shore.  Things 
were  now  drawing  near  to  a  close;  and  not- 
withstanding my  success,  as  to  general  evi- 
dence, in  this  journey,  my  heart  began  to 
beat  I  w^as  restless  and  uneasy  during  the 
night.  The  next  morning  I  felt  agitated 
again  between  the  alternate  pressure  of  hope 
and  fear;  and  in  this  state  I  entered  my  boat. 
The  fifty-seventh  vessel  I  boarded  was  the 


70 

Melampus  frigate. — One  person  belonging  to 
it,  on  examining  him  in  the  captain's  cabin, 
said  he  had  been  two  v^oya^es  to  Africa;  and 
I  had  not  long  discoursed  with  him,  before  I 
found,  to  my  inexpressible  joy,  that  he  was 
the  man.  I  found,  too,  that  he  unravelled  the 
question  in  dispute  precisely  as  our  inferences 
had  determined  it.  He  had  been  two  expe- 
ditions up  the  river  Calabar,  in  the  canoes  of 
the  natives.  In  the  first  of  these  they  came 
within  a  certain  distance  of  a  village :  they 
then  concealed  themselves  under  the  bushes, 
which  hung  over  the  water  from  the  banks. 
In  this  position  they  remained  during  the 
day-light ;  but  at  night  they  went  up  to  it 
armed,  and  seized  all  the  inhabitants  who 
had  not  time  to  make  their  escape.  They 
obtained  forty-five  persons  in  this  manner. 
In  the  second,  they  were  out  eight  or  nine 
days,  when  they  made  a  similar  attempt,  and 
with  nearly  similar  success.  They  seized 
men,  women,  and  children,  as  they  could  find 
them  in  the  huts.  They  then  bound  their 
arms,  and  drove  them  before  them  to  the 
canoes.     The  name  of  the  person  thus  dis- 


71 

covered  on  board  of  the  Melampus  was  Isaac 
Parker.  On  inquiring  into  his  character, 
from  the  master  of  the  division,  I  found  it 
highly  respectable.  I  found  also  afterward 
that  he  had  sailed  with  Captain  Cook,  with 
great  credit  to  himself,  round  the  world.  It 
was  also  remarkable,  that  my  brother,  on 
seeing  him  in  London,  when  he  went  to  de- 
liver his  evidence,  recognized  him  as  having 
served  on  board  the  Monarch,  man-of-war, 
and  as  one  of  the  most  exemplary  men  in 
that  ship.' 

"Mr.  Clarkson  became,  early  in  his  career, 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Wilberforce.  At  their 
first  interview,  the  latter  frankly  stated,  '  that 
the  subject  had  often  employed  his  thoughts, 
and  was  near  his  heart,'  and  learning  his 
visiter's  intention  to  devote  himself  to  this 
benevolent  object,  congratulated  him  on  his 
decision ;  desired  to  be  made  acquainted  with 
his  progress,  expressing  his  willingness,  in 
return,  to  afford  every  assistance  in  his 
power.  In  his  intercourse  with  members  of 
parliament,  Mr.  Clarkson  was  now  frequently 
associated  with  Mr.  Wilberforce,  who  dail^ 


72 

became  more  interested  in  the  fate  of  Africa. 
The  intercourse  of  the  two  philanthropists 
was  mutually  cordial  and  encouraging  ;  Mr. 
Clarkson  imparting  his  discoveries  in  the 
custom-houses  of  London,  Liverpool,  and 
other  places ;  and  Mr.  Wilberforce  commu- 
nicating the  information  he  had  gained  from 
those  with  whom  he  associated. 

"  In  1788,  Mr.  Clarkson  published  his  im- 
portant work  on  the  Impolicy  of  the  Slave- 
Trade. 

"  In  1789,  this  indefatigable  man  went  to 
France,  by  the  advice  of  the  Committee 
which  he  had  been  instrumental  in  forming 
two  years  before ;  Mr.  Wilberforce,  always 
solicitous  for  the  good  of  the  oppressed  Afri- 
cans, being  of  opinion  that  advantage  might 
be  taken  of  the  commotions  in  that  country, 
to  induce  the  leading  persons  there  to  take 
the  slave-trade  into  their  consideration,  and 
incorporate  it  among  the  abuses  to  be  re- 
moved. Several  of  Mr.  Clarkson's  friends 
advised  him  to  travel  by  another  name,  as 
accounts  had  arrived  in  England  of  the  ex- 
cesses which  had  taken  place  in  Paris ;  but 


73 

to  this  he  could  not  consent.  On  his  arrival 
in  that  city  he  was  speedily  introduced  to 
those  who  were  favourable  to  the  great  ob- 
ject of  his  life ;  and  at  the  house  of  M.  Necker 
dined  with  the  six  deputies  of  colour  from  St. 
Domingo, — who  had  been  sent  to  France  at 
this  juncture,  to  demand  that  the  free  people 
of  colour  in  their  country  might  be  placed 
upon  an  equality  with  the  whites.  Their  com- 
munications to  the  English  philanthropist 
were  important  and  interesting ;  they  hailed 
him  as  their  friend,  and  were  abundant  in 
their  commendations  of  his  conduct. 

"  Copies  of  the  Essay  on  the  Impolicy  of 
the  Slave-Trade,  translated  into  French,  with 
engravings  of  the  plan  and  section  of  a  slave 
ship,  were  distributed  with  apparent  good 
effect.  The  virtuous  Abbe  Gregoire,  and 
several  members  of  the  National  Assembly, 
called  upon  Mr.  Clarkson.  The  Archbishop 
of  Aix  was  so  struck  with  horror,  when  the 
plan  of  the  slave  ship  was  shown  to  him, 
that  he  could  scarcely  speak ;  and  JMirabeau 
ordered  a  model  of  it  in  wood  to  be  placed 
in  his  dining-room. 

G 


74 


"  The  circulation  of  intelligence,  although 
contributing  to   make  many   friends,  called 
forth  the  extraordinary  exertions  of  enemies. 
Merchants,  and  others  interested  in  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  slave-trade,  wrote  letters  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Aix,  beseeching  him  not 
to  ruin  France ;  which  they  said  he  would 
inevitably  do,  if,  as  the  president,  he  were  to 
grant  a  day  for  hearing  the  question  of  the 
abolition.     Offers  of  money  were  made  to 
Mirabeau,  if  he  would  totally  abandon  his 
intended  motion.     Books  were  circulated  in 
opposition  to  Mr.  Clarkson's ;  resort  was  had 
to  the  public  papers,  and  he  was  denounced 
as  a  spy.     The  clamour  raised  by  these  ef- 
forts pervaded   all   Paris,  and  reached  the 
ears  of  the  king.     M.  Necker  had  a  long 
conversation  with  his  royal  master  upon  it, 
who  requested  to  see  the  Essay,  and  the  spe- 
cimens of   African    manufactures,  and  be- 
stowed considerable  time  upon  them,  being 
surprised  at  the  state  of  the  arts  there.     M. 
Necker  did  not  exhibit  the  section  of   the 
slave  ship,  thinking  that  as  the  king  was  in- 
disposed, he   might  be  too  much  affected  by 


75 

it.  Louis  returned  the  specimens,  commis- 
sioning M.  Necker  to  convey  his  thanks  to 
Mr.  Clarkson,  and  express  his  gratification 
at  what  he  had  seen. 

"  No  decided  benefit  appears  at  this  time  to 
have  followed  the  visit:  but  though  much 
depressed  by  his  ill  success  in  France,  Mr. 
Clarkson  continued  his  labours,  till  excess  of 
exertion,  joined  to  repeated  and  bitter  disap- 
pointments, impaired  his  health,  and,  after  a 
hard  struggle,  subdued  a  constitution,  natu- 
rally strong  and  vigorous  beyond  the  lot  of 
men  in  general,  but  shattered  by  anxiety  and 
fatigue,  and  the  sad  probability,  often  forced 
upon  his  understanding,  that  all  might  at  last 
have  been  in  vain.  Under  these  feelings,  he 
retired  in  1794  to  the  beautiful  banks  of 
Ulleswater;  there  to  seek  that  rest  which, 
without  peril  to  his  life,  could  no  longer  be 
delayed. 

"  For  seven  years  he  had  maintained  a  cor- 
respondence with  four  hundred  persons;  he 
annually  wrote  a  book  upon  the  subject  of 
the  abolition,  and  travelled  more  than  thirty- 
five  thousand  miles  in  search  of  evidence, 


70 

making  a  great  part  of  these  journeys  in  the 
night.  *  All  this  time/  Mr.  Clarkson  writes, 
*my  mind  had  been  on  the  stretch ;  it  had  been 
bent  too  to  this  one  subject;  for  I  had  not 
even  leisure  to  attend  to  my  own  concerns. 
The  various  instances  of  barbarity,  which 
had  come  successively  to  my  knowledge 
within  this  period,  had  vexed,  harassed,  and 
afflicted  it.  The  wound  which  these  had 
produced  was  rendered  still  deeper  by  the 
reiterated  refusal  of  persons  to  give  their  tes- 
timony, after  I  had  travelled  hundreds  of 
miles  in  quest  of  them.  But  the  severest 
stroke  was  that  inflicted  by  the  persecution 
begun  and  pursued  by  persons  interested  in 
the  continuance  of  the  trade,  of  such  wit- 
nesses as  had  been  examined  against  them ; 
and  whom,  on  account  of  their  dependent 
situation  in  life,  it  was  most  easy  to  oppress. 
As  I  had  been  the  means  of  bringing  them 
forward  on  these  occasions,  they  naturally 
came  to  me,  as  the  author  of  their  miseries 
and   their    ruin.*      These   different  circum- 

*  The  father  of  the  late  Samuel  Whitbread,   Esq., 
generously  undertook,  in  order  to  make  Mr.  Clarkson*s 


77 

stances,  by  acting  together,  had  at  length 
brought  me  into  the  situation  just  mention- 
ed; and  I  was,  therefore,  obHged,  though 
very  reluctantly,  to  be  borne  out  of  the  field 
where  I  had  placed  the  great  honour  and 
glory  of  my  life.'" 

It  was  while  thus  recruiting  the  energies 
exhausted  in  the  conflict,  that  Clarkson,  and 
the  compatriot  band  with  which  he  had  been 
associated  in  the  long  and  arduous  struggle, 
were  crowned  with  victory,  and  received  the 
grateful  reward  of  their  honourable  toil  in 
the  final  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  by  the 
British  nation,  in  1807,  the  last  but  most  glo- 
rious act  of  the  Grenville  administration. 

The  preceding  shows  something  of  the  ca- 
reer of  Clarkson  while  labouring  to  convince 
the  people  of  Great  Britain  of  the  iniquity  of 
their  own  trade,  a  trade  which  they  had  the 
power  to  abolish.  During  all  this  time, 
Clarkson,  Wilberforce,  and  their  associates 

mind  easy  upon  the  subject,  "  to  make  g-ood  all  injuries 
which  any  individuals  might  suffer  from  such  persecu- 
tion ;  and  he  honourably  and  nobly  fulfilled  his  engage- 
ment. 

g2 


78 

avoided  touching  the  matter  of  slavery.  They 
knew  that  one  thing  must  be  gained  at  a 
time,  and  they  as  a  matter  of  expediency, 
avoided  discussing  the  duty  of  the  British 
nation  in  regard  to  the  system  of  slavery  in 
their  colonies  which  was  entirely  under  their 
own  control.  During  all  the  time  that  was 
employed  in  efforts  to  end  the  slave-trade, 
slavery  was  existing  in  the  control  of  the 
British  people,  and  yet  Clarkson  and  Wil- 
berforce  decided  that  it  was  right  to  let  that 
matter  entirely  alone. 

The  following  shows  Clarkson's  proceed- 
ings after  the  British  nation  had  abolished 
the  slave-trade. 

"  By  the  publication  of  his  Thoughts  on 
the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  Mr.  Clarkson  show- 
ed that  neither  he  nor  those  connected  with 
him,  considered  their  work  as  accomplished, 
when  the  laws  of  his  country  clasped  with 
its  felons  those  engaofed  in  the  nefarious  traf- 
fie  of  slaves.  But  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Clark- 
son were  not  confined  to  his  pen.  In  1818, 
he  proceeded  to  Aix  la  Chapelle,  at  the  time 
when  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  met  in  con- 


79 

gress.  He  was  received  with  marked  at^ 
tention  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  who  Hst- 
ened  to  his  stateaients  (respecting  the  slave^ 
tradey)  and  promised  louse  his  influence  with 
the  assembled  monarchs,  to  secure  the  entire 
suppression  of  the  trade  in  human  beings, 
as  speedily  as  possible.  Describing  his  in- 
terview with  this  amiable  monarch,  in  which 
the  subject  of  peace  societies,  as  well  as  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade  was  discussed, 
Mr.  Clarkson,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  thus 
writes: 

"*  It  w^as  about  nine  at  night,  when  I  was 
shown  into  the  emperor's  apartment.  I  found 
him  alone.  He  met  me  at  the  door,  and 
shaking  me  by  the  hand,  said,  '  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  making  your  acquaintance  at 
Paris.'  He  then  led  me  some  little  way  into 
the  room,  and  leaving  me  there,  went  for- 
ward and  brought  me  a  chair  with  his  own 
hand,  and  desired  me  to  sit  down.  This 
being  done,  he  went  for  another  chair,  and 
bringing  it  very  near  to  mine,  placed  him- 
self close  to  me,  so  that  we  sat  opposite  to 
each  other. 


80 

"  *  I  began  the  conversation  by  informing 
the  emperor  that  as  I  supposed  the  congress 
of  Aix  la  Chapelle  might  possibly  be  the  last 
congress  of  sovereigns  for  setthng  the  af- 
fairs of  Europe,  its  connexions  and  depen- 
dencies, I  had  availed  mvself  of  the  kind 
permission  he  gave  me  at  Paris,  of  applying 
to  him  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed  Africans, 
being  unwilling  to  lose  the  last  opportunity 
of  rendering  him  serviceable  to  the  cause. 

"  *  The  emperor  replied,  that  he  had  read 
both  my  letter  and  my  address  to  the  sove- 
reigns, and  that  what  I  asked  him  and  the 
other  sovereigns  to  do,  was  only  reasonable. 

"  *  Here  I  repeated  the  two  great  proposi- 
tions in  the  address — the  necessity  of  bring- 
ing the  Portuguese  time  for  continuing  the 
trade  (which  did  not  expire  till  1825,  and 
then  only  with  a  condition,)  down  to  the  Spa- 
nish time,  which  expired  in  1820;  and  se- 
condly, when  the  two  times  should  legally 
have  expired,  (that  is,  both  of  them  in  1820,) 
then  to  make  any  farther  continuance  'piracy. 
I  entreated  him  not  to  be  deceived  by  any 
other  propositions  ;  for  that  Mr.  Wilberforce, 


81 

myself,  and  others,  who  )iad  devoted  our 
time  to  this  subject,  were  sure  that  no  other 
measure  would  be  effectual. 

"  *  He  then  said  very  feelingly  in  these 
words,  '  By  the  providence  of  God,  I  and  my 
kingdom  have  been  saved  from  a  merciless 
tyranny,  (alluding  to  the  invasion  of  Napo- 
leon,) and  I  should  but  ill  repay  the  blessing, 
if  I  were  not  to  do  every  thing  in  my  power 
to  protect  the  poor  Africans  against  their 
oppression  also.' 

" '  The  emperor  then  asked  if  he  could  do 
any  thing  else  for  our  cause.  I  told  him  he 
could ;  and  that  I  should  be  greatly  obliged 
to  him  if  he  w^ould  present  one  of  the  ad- 
dresses to  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  and  ano- 
ther to  the  King  of  Prussia,  with  his  own 
hand.  I  had  brought  two  of  them  in  my 
pocket  for  the  purpose.  He  asked  me  why 
I  had  not  presented  them  before.  I  replied 
that  1  had  not  the  honour  of  knowing  either 
of  those  sovereigns  as  I  knew  him  ;  nor  any 
of  their  ministers;  and  that  I  was  not  only 
fearful  lest  these  addresses  would  not  be  pre- 
sented  to  them,  but   even  if  they  were,  that 


82 

coming  into  their  hands  without  any  recom- 
mendation, they  would  be  laid  aside  and  not 
read ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  (the  empe- 
ror,) would  condescend  to  present  them,  I 
was  sure  they  would  be  read,  and  that  com- 
ing from  him,  they  would  come  with  a  weight 
of  influence,  which  would  secure  an  atten- 
tion to  their  contents.  Upon  this,  the  empe- 
ror promised,  in  the  most  kind  and  affable 
manner,  that  he  would  perform  the  task  I 
had  assigned  to  him. 

" '  We  then  rose  from  our  seats  to  inspect 
some  articles  of  manufacture,  which  I  had 
brought  with  me  as  a  present  to  him,  and 
which  had  been  laid  upon  the  table.  We 
examined  the  articles  in  leather  first,  one  by 
one,  with  which  he  was  uncommonly  grati- 
fied. He  said  they  exhibited  not  only  ge- 
nius but  taste.  He  inquired  if  they  tanned 
their  own  leather,  and  how :  I  replied  to  his 
question.  He  said  he  had  never  seen  neater 
work,  either  in  Petersburg  or  in  London.  He 
then  looked  at  a  dagger  and  its  scabbard  or 
sheath.  I  said  the  sheath  was  intended  as  a 
further,  but  more  beautiful  specimen  of  the 


83 

work  of  the  poor  Africans  in  leather ;  and 
the  blade  of  their  dagger  as  a  specimen  of 
their  work  in  iron.  Their  works  in  cotton 
next  came  under  our  notice.  There  was 
one  piece  which  attracted  his  particular  no- 
tice, and  which  was  undoubtedly  very  beau- 
tiful. It  called  from  him  this  observation, 
'  Manchester,'  said  he,  *  I  think  is  your  great 
place  for  manufactures  of  this  sort — do  you 
think  they  could  make  a  better  piece  of  cot- 
ton there  V  I  told  him  I  had  never  seen  a 
better  piece  of  workmanship  of  the  kind 
any  where.  Having  gone  over  all  the  arti- 
cles, the  emperor  desired  me  to  inform  him 
w^hether  he  was  to  understand  that  these  ar- 
ticles w^ere  made  by  the  Africans  in  their 
own  country,  that  is,  in  their  native  villages, 
or  after  they  had  arrived  in  America,  where 
they  would  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
European  manufactures,  and  experienced 
workmen  in  the  arts?  I  repHed  that  such 
articles  might  be  found  in  every  African  vil- 
lage, both  on  the  coast  and  in  the  interior, 
and  that  they  were  samples  of  their  own  in- 
genuity, without  any  connexion  with  Euro- 


84 

peans.  *  Then/  said  the  emperor,  *  you  as- 
tonish me — you  have  given  me  a  new  idea 
of  the  state  of  these  poor  people.  I  was  not 
aware  that  they  were  so  advanced  in  society. 
The  works  you  have  shown  me  are  not  the 
works  of  brutes — but  of  men,  endued  w^ith 
rational  and  intellectual  powers,  and  capable 
of  being  brought  to  as  high  a  degree  of  pro- 
ficiency as  any  other  men.  Africa  ought  to 
have  a  fair  chance  of  raising  her  character 
in  the  scale  of  the  civilized  icarld.^  I  replied 
that  it  was  this  cruel  traffic  alone,  which  had 
prevented  Africa  from  rising  to  a  level  with 
other  nations  ;  and  that  it  was  only  astonish- 
ing to  me  that  the  natives  there  had,  under 
its  impeding  influence,  arrived  at  the  perfec- 
tion which  had  displayed  itself  in  the  speci- 
mens of  workmanship  he  had  just  seen.' " 

Animated  by  a  growing  conviction  of  the 
righteousness  of  the  cause  in  which  he  was 
engaged,  and  encouraged  by  the  success  with 
which  past  endeavours  had  been  crowned, 
Mr.  Clarkson  continued  his  efficient  co-ope- 
tion  with  the  friends  of  Abolition,  advocating 
its  claims  on  all  suitable  occasions. 


85 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  recount  the  steps 
by  which,  even  before  the  venerated  Wilber- 
force  was  called  to  his  rest,  this  glorious 
event  was  realized,  and  Clarkson  beheld  the 
great  object  of  his  own  life,  and  those  with 
whom  he  had  acted,  triumphantly  achieved. 
The  gratitude  cherished  towards  the  Su- 
preme Ruler  for  the  boon  thus  secured  to 
the  oppressed — the  satisfaction  which  a  re- 
view of  past  exertions  afforded,  were  height- 
ened by  the  joyous  sympathy  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  countrymen.* 

The  History  of  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave- 
trade,  by  Clarkson  himself,  presents  a  more 
detailed  account  of  his  own  labours  and  of 
the  labours  of  others,  and  whoever  will  read 
it,  will  observe  the  following  particulars  in 
which  this  effort  differed  from  the  Abolition 
movement  in  America. 

In  the  first  place,  it  was  conducted  by  some 
of  the  wisest  and  most  talented  statesmen,  as 
well  as  the  most  pious  men,  in  the  British  na- 

*  Tliis  account  of  Clarkson,  and  the  preceding-  one  of 
Wilberforce,  are  taken  from  the  Christian  Keepsake 
of  1836  and  1837. 

M 


86 

tion.  Pitt,  Fox,  and  some  of  the  highest  of  the 
nobility  and  bishops  in  England,  were  the 
firmest  friends  of  the  enterprise  from  the  first. 
It  was  conducted  by  men  who  had  the  in- 
tellect, knowledge,  discretion,  and  wisdom 
demanded  for  so  great  an  enterprise. 

Secondly.  It  was  conducted  slowly,  peace- 
ably, and  by  eminently  judicious  influences. 

Thirdly.  It  included,  to  the  full  extent,  the 
doctrine  of  expediency  denounced  by  Aboli- 
tionists. 

One  of  the  first  decisions  of  the  "  Committee 
for  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave-trade,"  which 
conducted  all  Abolition  movements,  was  that 
slavery  should  not  be  attacked,  but  only  the 
slave-trade;  and  Clarkson  expressly  says,  that 
it  was  owing  to  this,  more  than  to  any  other 
measure,  that  success  was  gained. 

Fourthly.  Good  men  were  not  divided, 
and  thrown  into  contending  parties. — The 
opponents  to  the  measure,  were  only  those 
who  were  personally  interested  in  the  per- 
petuation of  slavery  or  the  slave-trade. 

Fifthly.  This  effort  was  one  to  convince 
men  of  their  oxen  obligations,  and  not  an  effort 


87 

to  arouse  public  sentiment  against  the  sinful 
practices  of  another  community  over  which 
they  had  no  control. 

I  would   now  ask,  why  could  not  some 
southern  gentleman,  such  for  example  as  Mr. 
Birney,  whose  manners,  education,  character, 
and  habits  give  him  abundant  facilities,  have 
acted  the  part  of  Clarkson,  and  quietly  have 
gone  to  work  at  the  South,  collecting  facts, 
exhibiting  the  impolicy  and  the  evils,  to  good 
men  at  the  South,  by  the  fire-side  of  the  plan- 
ter,  the    known    home   of   hospitality   and 
chivalry.      Why   could   he   not   have   com- 
menced with  the  most  vulnerable  point,  the 
domestic  slave-trade,  leaving  emancipation  for 
a  future  and  more  favourable  period?   What 
right  has  any  one  to  say  that  there  was  no 
southern  Wilberforce  that  would  have  arisen, 
no  southern  Grant,  Macaulayor  Sharpe,who, 
like  the  English  philanthropists,  would  have 
stood  the  fierce  beating  of  angry  billows,  and 
by  patience,  kindness,  arguments,  facts,  elo- 
quence, and   Christian   love,  convinced  the 
skeptical,  enlightened  the  ignorant,  excited 
the  benevolent,  and  finally  have  carried  the 


88 

day  at  the  South,  by  the  same  means  and 
measures,  as  secured  the  event  in  England? 
All  experience  is  in  favour  of  the  method 
which  the  Abolitionists  have  rejected,  because 
it  involves  danger  to  themselves.  The  cause 
they  have  selected  is  one  that  stands  alone. — 
No  case  parallel  on  earth  can  be  brought  to 
sustain  it,  with  probabilities  of  good  results. 
No  instance  can  be  found,  where  exciting  the 
public  sentiment  of  one  community  against 
evil  practices  in  another,  was  ever  made  the 
means  of  eradicating  those  evils.  All  the 
laws  of  mind,  all  the  records  of  experience, 
go  against  the  measures  that  Abolitionists 
have  taken,  and  in  favour  of  the  one  they 
have  rejected.  And  when  we  look  still  far- 
ther ahead,  at  results  which  time  is  to  devel- 
ope,  how  stand  the  probabiUties,  when  we,  in 
judging,  again  take,  as  data,  the  laws  of  mind 
and  the  records  of  experience? 
i  What  are  the  plans,  hopes,  and  expecta- 
tions of  Abolitionists,  in  reference  to  their 
measures'?  They  are  now  labouring  to  make 
the  North  a  great  Abolition  Society, — to  con- 
vince everv  northern  man  that  slavervat  the 


89 

South  is  a  great  sin,  and  that  it  ought  imme- 
diately to  cease.  Suppose  they  accomplish 
this  to  the  extent  they  hope, — so  far  as  we 
have  seen,  the  more  the  North  is  convinced, 
the  more  firmly  the  South  rejects  the  light, 
and  turns  from  the  truth. 

While  Abolition  Societies  did  not  exist, 
men  could  talk  and  write,  at  the  South, 
against  the  evils  of  slavery,  and  northern 
men  had  free  access  and  liberty  of  speech, 
both  at  the  South  and  at  the  North.  But 
now  all  is  changed.  Every  avenue  of  ap- 
proach to  the  South  is  shut.  No  paper, 
pamphlet,  or  preacher,  that  touches  on  that 
topic,  is  admitted  in  their  bounds.  Their  own 
citizens,  that  once  laboured  and  remonstrated, 
are  silenced ;  their  own  clergy,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  exasperated  feelings  of  their 
people,  and  their  own  sympathy  and  sense  of 
wrong,  either  entirely  hold  their  peace,  or 
become  the  defenders  of  a  system  thev  once 
lamented,  and  attempted  to  bring  to  an  end. 
This  is  the  record  of  experience  as  to  the 
tendencies  of  Abolitionism,  as  thus  far  deve- 
loped.    The  South  are  now  in  just  that  state 

h2 


90 

of  high  exasperation,  at  the  sense  of  wanton 
injury  and  impertinent  interference,  which 
makes  the  influence  of  truth  and  reason  most 
useless  and  powerless* 

But  suppose  the  Abolitionists  succeed,  not  on- 
ly in  making  northern  men  Abolitiomsts,but  also 
in  sending  a  portion  of  light  into  the  South,  such 
as  to  form  a  bodv  of  Abolitionists  there  also* 
What  is  the  thingthat  is  to  be  done  to  end  slav- 
ery at  the  South'?    It  is  to  alter  the  laws,  and  to 
do  this,  a  small  minority  must  begin  a  long, 
bitter,  terrible  conflict  with  a  powerful  and 
exasperated  majority.     Now  if,  as  the  Abo- 
litionists  hope,  there  will  arise  at  the  South 
such  a  minority,  it  will  doubtless   consist  of 
men  of  religious  and  benevolent  feelings, — 
men  of  that  humane,  and  generous,  and  up- 
right spirit,  that  most  keenly  feel  the  injuries 
inflicted  on  their  fellow  men.     Suppose  such 
a  band  of  men  begin  their  efforts,  sustained 
by   the    northern    Abolitionists,    already  so 
odious.     How  will  the  exasperated  majority 
act,  according  to  the  known  laws  of  mind 
and  of  experience?     Instead  of  lessening  the 
evils  of  slavery,  they  will  increase  them.    The 


91 

more  they  are  goaded  by  a  sense  of  aggres- 
sive wrong  without,  or  by  fears  of  dangers 
within,  the  nnore  they  will  restrain  their 
slaves,  and  diminish  their  liberty,  and  in- 
crease their  disabilities.  They  will  make 
laws  so  unjust  and  oppressive,  not  only  to 
slaves,  but  to  their  Abolitionist  advocates, 
that  by  degrees  such  men  will  withdraw  from 
their  bounds.  Laws  will  be  made  expressly 
to  harass  them,  and  to  render  them  so  uncom- 
fortable that  they  must  withdraw.  Then  gra- 
dually the  ricfhteous  will  flee  from  the  devoted 
city.  Then  the  numerical  proportion  of  whites 
will  decrease,  and  the  cruelty  and  unrestrain- 
ed wickedness  of  the  svstem  will  increase,  till 
a  period  will  come  when  the  physical  power 
will  be  so  much  with  the  blacks,  their  sense 
of  suffering  so  increased,  that  the  volcano 
will  burst, — insurrection  and  servile  wars  will 
begin.  Oh,  the  countless  horrors  of  such  a 
day!  And  will  the  South  stand  alone  in  that 
burning  hour?  When  she  sends  forth  the 
wailing  of  her  agonies,  shall  not  the  North 
and  the  West  hear,  and  lift  up  together  the 
voice  of  wo''     Will  not  fathers  hear  the  cries 


92 

of  children,  and  brothers  the  cries  of  sisters'? 
Will  the  terrors  of  insurrection  sweep  over 
the   South,   and  no  Northern   and  Western 
blood  be  shed?     Will  the  slaves  be  cut  down, 
in  such  a  strife,  when  they  raise  the  same 
paean  song  of  liberty  and  human  rights,  that 
was  the  watchword  of  our  redemption  from 
far  less  dreadful  tyranny,  and  which  is  now 
thrilling  the  nations  and  shaking  monarchs 
on  their  thrones — will  this  be  heard,  and  none 
of  the  sons  of  liberty  be  found  to  appear  on 
their  side?     This  is  no  picture  of  fancied 
dangers,  which  are  not  near.     The  day  has 
come,  when  already  the  feelings  are  so  ex- 
cited on  both  sides,  that  I  have  heard  intelli- 
gent men,  good  men,  benevolent  and  pious 
men,  in  moments  of  excitement,  declare  them- 
selves ready  to  take  up  the  sword — some  for 
the  defence  of  the  master,  some  for  the  pro- 
tection and  right  of  the  slave.     It  is  my  full 
conviction,  that   if  insurrection   does   burst 
forth,  and  there  be  the  least  prospect  of  suc- 
cess to  the  cause  of  the  slave,  there  will  be 
men   from   the   North    and   West,  standing 


93 

breast  to  breast,  with  murderous  weapons,  in 
opposing  ranks. 

Such  apprehensions  many  would  regard  as 
needless,  and  exclaim  against  such  melan- 
choly predictions.  But  in  a  case  where  the 
whole  point  of  duty  and  expediency  turns 
upon  the  probabilities  as  to  results,  those 
probabilities  ought  to  be  the  chief  subjects  of 
inquiry.  True,  no  one  has  a  right  to  say 
with  confidence  what  will  or  what  will  not 
be;  and  it  has  often  amazed  and  disturbed 
my  mind  to  perceive  how  men,  with  so  small 
a  field  of  vision, — with  so  little  data  for  judg- 
ing,— with  so  few  years,  and  so  little  expe- 
rience, can  pronounce  concerning  the  results 
of  measures  bearing  upon  the  complicated 
relations  and  duties  of  millions,  and  in  a  case 
where  the  wisest  and  best  are  dismayed  and 
baffled.  It  sometimes  has  seemed  to  me  that 
the  prescience  of  Deity  alone  should  dare  to 
take  such  positions  as  are  both  carelessly  as- 
sumed, and  pertinaciously  defended,  by  the 
advocates  of  Abolitionism. 

But  if  we  are  to  judge  of  the  wisdom  or 
folly  of  any  measures  on  this  subject,  it  must 


94 

be  with  reference  to  future  results.  One 
course  of  naeasures,  it  is  claimed,  tends  to 
perpetuate  slavery,  or  to  end  it  by  scenes  of 
terror  and  bloodshed.  Another  course  tends 
to  bring  it  to  an  end  sooner,  and  by  safe  and 
peaceful  influences.  And  the  whole  discus- 
sion of  duty  rests  on  these  probabilities.  But 
where  do  the  laws  of  mind  and  experience 
oppose  the  terrific  tendencies  of  Abolitionism 
that  have  been  portrayed  ?  Are  not  the  minds 
of  men  thrown  into  a  ferment,  and  excited  by 
those  passions  which  blind  the  reason,  and 
warp  the  moral  sense?  Is  not  the  South  in 
a  state  of  high  exasperation  against  Aboli- 
tionists 1  Does  she  not  regard  them  as  ene- 
mies, as  reckless  madmen,  as  impertinent 
intermeddlers?  Will  the  increase  of  their 
numbers  tend  to  allay  this  exasperation? 
Will  the  appearance  of  a  similar  body  in 
their  own  boundaries  have  any  tendency  to 
soothe?  Will  it  not  still  more  alarm  and  ex- 
asperate? If  a  movement  of  a  minority  of 
such  men  attempt  to  alter  the  laws,  are  not 
the  probabilities  strong  that  still  more  unjust 
and  oppressive  measures  will  be  adopted?— 


95 

measures  that  will  tend  to  increase  the  hard- 
ships of  the  slave,  and  to  drive  out  of  the  com- 
munity all  humane,  conscientious  and  pious 
men?  As  the  evils  and  dangers  increase,  will 
not  the  alarm  constantly  diminish  the  propor- 
tion of  whites,  and  make  it  more  and  more  need- 
ful to  increase  such  disabilities  and  restraints 
as  will  chafe  and  inflame  the  blacks  ?  When 
this  point  is  reached,  will  the  blacks,  knowing, 
as  they  will  know,  the  sympathies  of  their 
AboHtion  friends,  refrain  from  exerting  their 
physical  power?  The  Southampton  insurrec- 
tion occurred  with  far  less  chance  of  sympathy 
and  success. 

If  that  most  horrible  of  all  scourges,  a  ser- 
vile war,  breaks  forth,  will  the  slaughter  of 
fathers,  sons,  infants,  and  of  aged, — will  the 
cries  of  wives,  daughters,  sisters,  and  kindred, 
suffering  barbarities  worse  than  death,  bring 
no  fathers,  brothers,  and  friends  to  their  aid, 
from  the  North  and  West? 

And  if  the  sympathies  and  indignation  of 
freemen  can  already  look  such  an  event  in 
the  face,  and  feel  that  it  would  be  the  slave, 
rather  than  the  master,  whom  they  would 


96 

defend,  what  will  be  the  probability,  after  a 
few  years'  chafing  shall  have  driven  away 
the  most  christian  and  humane  from  scenes 
of  cruelty  and  inhumanity,  which  they  could 
neither  alleviate  nor  redress?  1  should  like 
to  see  any  data  of  past  experience,  that  will 
show  that  these  results  are  not  more  probable 
than  that  the  South  will,  by  the  system  of 
means  now  urged  upon  her,  finally  be  con- 
vinced of  her  sins,  and  voluntarily  bring  the 
system  of  slavery  to  an  end.  I  claim  not 
that  the  predictions  I  present  will  be  fulfilled. 
I  only  say,  that  if  Abolitionists  go  on  as  they 
propose,  such  results  are  more  probable  than 
those  they  hope  to  attain. 

I  have  not  here  alluded  to  the  probabilities 
of  the  severing  of  the  Union  by  the  present 
mode  of  agitating  the  question.  This  may  be 
one  of  the  results,  and,  if  so,  what  are  the 
probabilities  for  a  Southern  republic,  that  has 
torn  itself  off  for  the  purpose  of  excluding 
foreign  interference,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
perpetuating  slavery?  Can  any  Abolitionist 
suppose  that,  in  such  a  state  of  things,  the 
great  cause  of  emancipation  is  as  likely  to 


97 

progress  favourably,  as  it  was  when  we  were 
one  nation,  and  mingling  on  those  fraternal 
terms  that  existed  before  the  Abolition  move- 
ment be^ran? 

The  preceding  are  some  of  the  reasons 
which,  on  the  general  view,  I  would  present 
as  opposed  to  the  proposal  of  forming  Aboli- 
tion Societies;  and  they  apply  equally  to 
either  sex.  There  are  some  others  which 
seem  to  oppose  peculiar  objections  to  the  ac- 
tion of  females  in  the  way  you  would  urge. 

To  appreciate  more  fully  these  objections, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  recur  to  some  general 
views  in  relation  to  the  place  woman  is  ap- 
pointed to  fill  by  the  dispensations  of  heaven. 

It  has  of  late  become  quite  fashionable  in 
all  benevolent  efforts,  to  shower  upon  our  sex 
an  abundance  of  compliments,  not  only  for 
what  they  have  done,  but  also  for  what  they 
can  do;  and  so  injudicious  and  so  frequent, 
are  these  oblations,  that  while  I  feel  an  in- 
creasing respect  for  my  countrywomen,  that 
their  good  sense  has  not  been  decoyed  by 
these  appeals  to  their  vanity  and  ambition,  I 
cannot  but  apprehend  that  there  is  some  need 

I 


98 

of  inquiry  as  to  the  just  bounds  of  female  in- 
fluence, and  the  times,  places,  and  manner  in 
which  it  can  be  appropriately  exerted. 

It  is  the  grand  feature  of  the  Divine 
economy,  that  there  should  be  different  sta- 
tions of  superiority  and  subordination,  and  it 
is  impossible  to  annihilate  this  beneficent  and 
immutable  law.  On  its  first  entrance  into 
life,  the  child  is  a  dependent  on  parental  love, 
and  of  necessity  takes  a  place  of  subordina- 
tion and  obedience.  As  he  advances  in  life 
these  new  relations  of  superiority  and  subor- 
dination multiply.  The  teacher  must  be  the 
superior  in  station,  the  pupil  a  subordinate. 
The  master  of  a  family  the  superior,  the  do- 
mestic a  subordinate — -the  ruler  a  superior, 
the  subject  a  subordinate.  Nor  do  these  re- 
lations at  all  depend  upon  superiority  either 
in  intellectual  or  moral  worth.  However 
weak  the  parents,  or  intelligent  the  child, 
there  is  no  reference  to  this,  in  the  immutable 
law.  However  incompetent  the  teacher,  or 
superior  the  pupil,  no  alteration  of  station  can 
be  allowed.  However  unworthy  the  master 
or  worthy  the  servant,  while  their  mutual  re- 


99 


lations  continue,  no  change  in  station  as  to 
subordination  can  be  allowed.  In  fulfilling 
the  duties  of  these  relations,  true  dignity  con- 
sists in  conforming  to  all  those  relations  that 
demand  subordination,  with  propriety  and 
cheerfulness.  When  does  a  man,  however 
high  his  character  or  station,  appear  more 
interesting  or  dignified  than  when  yielding 
reverence  and  deferential  attentions  to  an 
aged  parent,  however  weak  and  infirm? 
And  the  pupil,  the  servant,  or  the  subject,  all 
equally  sustain  their  own  claims  to  self-re- 
spect, and  to  the  esteem  of  others,  by  equally 
sustaining  the  appropriate  relations  and  duties 
of  subordination.  In  this  arrangement  of  the 
duties  of  life,  Heaven  has  appointed  to  one 
sex  the  superior,  and  to  the  other  the  subor- 
dinate station,  and  this  without  any  reference 
to  the  character  or  conduct  of  either.  It 
is  therefore  as  much  for  the  dignity  as  it  is  for 
the  interest  of  females,  in  all  respects  to  con- 
form to  the  duties  of  this  relation.  And  it  is 
as  much  a  duty  as  it  is  for  the  child  to  fulfil 
similar  relations  to  parents,  or  subjects  to 
rulers.     But  while  woman  holds  a  subordi- 


100 

nate  relation  in  society  to  the  other  sex,  it  is 
not  because  it  was  designed  that  her  duties 
or  her  influence  should  be  any  the  less  im- 
portant, or  all-pervading.  But  it  was  design- 
ed that  the  mode  of  gaining  influence  and  of 
exercising  power  should  be  altogether  dif- 
ferent and  peculiar. 

It  is  Christianity  that  has  given  to  woman 
her  true  place  in  society.  And  it  is  the  pe- 
culiar trait  of  Christianity  alone  that  can 
sustain  her  therein.  "  Peace  on  earth  and 
good  will  to  men"  is  the  character  of  all  the 
rights  and  privileges,  the  influence,  and  the 
power  of  woman.  A  man  may  act  on  society 
by  the  collision  of  intellect,  in  public  debate ; 
he  may  urge  his  measures  by  a  sense  of 
shame,  by  fear  and  by  personal  interest;  he 
may  coerce  by  the  combination  of  pubHc 
sentiment ;  he  may  drive  by  physical  force, 
and  he  does  not  outstep  the  boundaries  of  his 
sphere.  But  all  the  power,  and  all  the  con- 
quests that  are  lawful  to  woman,  are  those 
only  w^iich  appeal  to  the  kindly,  generous, 
peaceful  and  benevolent  principles. 

Woman  is  to  win  every  thing  by  peace 


101 

and  love;  by  making  herself  so  much  respect- 
ed, esteemed  and  loved,  that  to  yield  to  her 
opinions  and  to  gratify  her  wishes,  will  be  the 
free-will  ofiering  of  the  heart.  But  this  is  to 
be  all  accomplished  in  the  domestic  and 
social  circle.  There  let  every  woman  be- 
come so  cultivated  and  refined  in  intellect, 
that  her  taste  and  judgment  will  be  respected; 
so  benevolent  in  feeling  and  action ;  that  her 
motives  will  be  reverenced; — so  unassuming 
and  unambitious,  that  collision  and  compe- 
tition will  be  banished  ; — so  "  gentle  and  easy 
to  be  entreated,"  as  that  every  heart  will  re- 
pose in  her  presence;  then,  the  fathers,  the 
husbands,  and  the  sons,  will  find  an  influence 
thrown  around  them,  to  which  they  will  yield 
not  only  willingly  but  proudly.  A  man  is 
never  ashamed  to  own  such  influences,  but 
feels  dignified  and  ennobled  in  acknowledging 
them.  But  the  moment  woman  begins  to  feel 
the  promptings  of  ambition,  or  the  thirst  for 
power,  her  a3gis  of  defence  is  gone.  All  the 
sacred  protection  of  religion,  all  the  generous 
promptings  of  chivalry,  all  the  poetry  of  ro- 
mantic gallantry,  depend  upon  woman*s  re- 

i2 


102 

taining  her  place  as  dependent  and  defence- 
less, and  making  no  claims,  and  maintaining 
no  right  but  what  are  the  gifts  of  honour,  rec- 
titude and  love. 

A  woman  may  seek  the  aid  of  co-opera- 
tion and  combination  among  her  own  sex,  to 
assist  her  in  her  appropriate  offices  of  piety, 
charity,  maternal  and  domestic  duty;  but 
whatever,  in  any  measure,  throws  a  woman 
into  the  attitude  of  a  combatant,  either  for 
herself  or  others — whatever  binds  her  in  a 
party  conflict — whatever  obliges  her  in  any 
way  to  exert  coercive  influences,  throws 
her  out  of  her  appropriate  sphere.  If  these 
general  principles  are  correct,  they  are 
entirely  opposed  to  the  plan  of  arraying 
females  in  any  Abolition  movement;  be- 
cause it  enlists  them  in  an  effort  to  coerce 
the  South  by  the  public  sentiment  of  the 
North;  because  it  brings  them  forward  as 
partisans  in  a  conflict  that  has  been  begun 
and  carried  forward  by  measures  that  are 
any  thing  rather  than  peaceful  in  their  ten- 
dencies ;  because  it  draws  them  forth  from 
their  appropriate  retirement,  to  expose  them- 


103 

selves  to  the  ungoverned  violence  of  mobs, 
and  to  sneers  and  ridicule  in  public  places ; 
because  it  leads  them  into  the  arena  of  poli- 
tical collision,  not  as  peaceful  mediators  to 
hush  the  opposing  elements,  but  as  combat- 
ants to  cheer  up  and  carry  forward  the  mea- 
sures of  strife. 

If  it  is  asked, "  May  not  w^oman  appropriate- 
ly come  forward  as  a  suppliant  for  a  portion 
of  her  sex  who  are  bound  in  cruel  bondage  V 
It  is  replied,  that,  the  rectitude  and  propri- 
ety of  any  such  measure,  depend  entirely  on 
its  probable  results.  If  petitions  from  females 
will  operate  to  exasperate ;  if  they  will  be 
deemed  obtrusive,  indecorous,  and  unwise, 
by  those  to  whom  they  are  addressed;  if 
they  will  increase,  rather  than  diminish  the 
evil  which  it  is  washed  to  remove  ;  if  they 
will  be  the  opening  wedge,  that  will  tend 
eventually  to  bring  females  as  petitioners  and 
partisans  into  every  political  measure  that 
may  tend  to  injure  and  oppress  their  sex,  in 
various  parts  of  the  nation,  and  under  the 
various  public  measures  that  may  hereafter 


104 

be  enforced,  then  it  is  neither  appropriate 
nor  wise,  nor  right,  for  a  woman  to  petition 
for  the  reHef  of  oppressed  females. 

The  case  of  Queen  Esther  is  one  often  ap- 
pealed to  as  a  precedent.  When  a  woman 
is  placed  in  similar  circumstances,  where 
death  to  herself  and  all  her  nation  is  one  al- 
ternative, and  there  is  nothing  worse  to  fear, 
but  something  to  hope  as  the  other  alterna- 
tive, then  she  may  safely  follow  such  an  ex- 
ample. But  when  a  woman  is  asked  to  join 
an  Abolition  Society,  or  to  put  her  name  to 
a  petition  to  congress,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
tributing her  measure  of  influence  to  keep 
up  agitation  in  congress,  to  promote  the  ex- 
citement of  the  North  against  the  iniquities 
of  the  South,  to  coerce  the  South  by  fear, 
shame,  anger,  and  a  sense  of  odium  to  do 
what  she  has  determined  not  to  do,  the  case 
of  Queen  Esther  is  not  at  all  to  be  regarded 
as  a  suitable  example  for  imitation. 

In  this  country,  petitions  to  congress,  in 
reference  to  the  official  duties  of  legislators, 
seem,  m  all  cases,  to  fall  entirely  without 
the  sphere  of  female  duty.      Men  are  the 


105 

proper  persons  to  make  appeals  to  the  rulers 
whom  they  appoint,  and  if  their  female 
friends,  by  arguments  and  persuasions,  can 
induce  them  to  petition,  all  the  good  that 
can  be  done  by  such  measures  will  be  secur- 
ed. But  if  females  cannot  influence  their 
nearest  friends,  to  urge  forward  a  public 
measure  in  this  w^ay,  they  surely  are  out  of 
their  place,  in  attempting  to  do  it  them- 
selves. 

There  are  some  other  considerations, 
which  should  make  the  American  females 
peculiarly  sensitive  in  reference  to  any  mea- 
sure, w^hich  should  even  seem  to  draw  them 
from  their  appropriate  relations  in  society. 

It  is  allowed  by  all  reflecting  minds,  that 
the  safety  and  happiness  of  this  nation  de- 
pends upon  having  the  children  educated, 
and  not  only  intellectually,  but  morally  and 
religiously.  There  are  now  nearly  two  mil- 
lions of  children  and  adults  in  this  country 
who  cannot  read,  and  who  have  no  schools 
of  any  kind.  To  give  only  a  small  supply  of 
teachers  to  these  destitute  children,  who  are 
generally  where  the  population  is  sparse,  will 


lOG 

demand  thirty  thousand  teachers;  and  six 
thousand  more  will  be  needed  every  year, 
barely  to  meet  the  increase  of  juvenile  popu- 
lation. But  if  we  allow  that  we  need  not 
reach  this  point,  in  order  to  save  ourselves 
from  that  destruction  which  awaits  a  people, 
when  governed  by  an  ignorant  and  unprin- 
cipled democracy;  if  we  can  weather  the 
storms  of  democratic  liberty  with  only  one- 
third  of  our  ignorant  children  properly  edu- 
cated, still  we  need  ten  thousand  teachers  at 
this  moment,  and  an  addition  of  two  thou- 
sand every  year.  Where  is  this  army  of 
teachers  to  be  found  ?  Is  it  at  all  probable 
that  the  other  sex  will  afford  even  a  mode- 
rate portion  of  this  supply  1  The  field  for 
enterprise  and  excitement  in  the  political 
arena,  in  the  arts,  the  sciences,  the  liberal 
professions,  in  agriculture,  manufactures,  and 
commerce,  is  opening  with  such  temptations, 
as  never  yet  bore  upon  the  mind  of  any  na- 
tion. Will  men  turn  aside  from  these  high 
and  exciting  objects  to  become  the  patient 
labourers  in  the  school-room,  and  for  only 
the  small  pittance  that  rewards  such  toil  ? 


107 

No,  they  will  not  do  it*  Men  will  be  educa- 
tors in  the  college,  in  the  high  school,  in 
some  of  the  most  honourable  and  lucrative 
common  schools,  but  the  children,  the  little 
children  of  this  nation  must,  to  a  wide  ex- 
tent, be  taught  by  females,  or  remain  un- 
taught. The  drudgery  of  education,  as  it  is 
now  too  generally  regarded,  in  this  country, 
will  be  given  to  the  female  hand.  And  as 
the  value  of  education  rises  in  the  public 
mind,  and  the  importance  of  a  teacher's  of- 
fice is  more  highly  estimated,  women  will 
more  and  more  be  furnished  with  those  in- 
tellectual advantages  which  they  need  to  fit 
them  for  such  duties. 

The  result  will  bCy  that  America  will  be 
distinguished  above  all  other  nations,  for  well- 
educated  females,  and  for  the  influence  they 
will  exert  on  the  general  interests  of  society. 
But  if  females,  as  they  approach  the  other 
sex,  in  intellectual  elevation,  begin  to  claim, 
or  to  exercise  in  any  manner,  the  peculiar 
prerogatives  of  that  sex,  education  will  prove 
a  doubtful  and  danpjerous  blessino:.  But  this 
will  never  be  the  result.     For  the  more  in- 


108 

telligent  a  woman  becomes,  the  more  she  can 
appreciate  the  wisdom  of  that  ordinance  that 
appointed  her  subordinate  station,  and  the 
more  her  taste  will  conform  to  the  graceful 
and  dignified  retirement  and  submission  it 
involves. 

An  ignorant,  a  narrow-minded,  or  a  stupid 
woman,  cannot  feel  nor  understand  the  ra- 
tionality, the  propriety,  or  the  beauty  of  this 
relation ;  and  she  it  is,  that  will  be  most 
likely  to  carry  her  measures  by  tormenting, 
when  she  cannot  please,  or  by  petulent  com- 
plaints or  obtrusive  interference,  in  matters 
which  are  out  of  her  sphere,  and  which  she 
cannot  comprehend. 

And  experience  testifies  to  this  result.  By 
the  concession  of  all  travellers,  American  fe- 
males are  distinguished  above  all  others  for 
their  general  intelligence,  and  yet  they  are 
complimented  for  their  retiring  modesty,  vir- 
tue, and  domestic  faithfulness,  while  the  other 
sex  is  asmuchdistinguished  for  their  respectful 
kindness  and  attentive  gallantry.  There  is  no 
other  country  where  females  have  so  much 
public  respect  and  kindness  accorded  to  them 


109 

as  in  America,  by  the  concession  of  all  tra- 
vellers. And  it  will  ever  be  so,  while  intel- 
lectual culture  in  the  female  mind,  is  combin- 
ed with  the  spirit  of  that  religion  which  so 
strongly  enforces  the  appropriate  duties  of  a 
woman's  sphere. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  is  there  nothing  to  be 
done  to  bring  this  national  sin  of  slavery  to 
an  end?  Must  the  internal  slave-trade,  a 
trade  now  ranked  as  piracy  among  all  civil- 
ized nations,  still  prosper  in  our  bounds? 
Must  the  very  seat  of  our  government  stand 
as  one  of  the  chief  slave-markets  of  the 
land;  and  must  not  Christian  females  open 
their  lips,  nor  Uft  a  finger,  to  bring  such  a 
shame  and  sin  to  an  end  ? 

To  this  it  may  be  repUed,  that  Christian 
females  may,  and  can  say  and  do  much  to 
bring  these  evils  to  an  end ;  and  the  present 
is  a  time  and  an  occasion  when  it  seems  most 
desirable  that  they  should  know,  and  appre- 
ciate, and  exercise  the  power  which  they  do 
possess  for  so  desirable  an  end. 

And  in  pointing  out  the  methods  of  ex- 
erting female  influence  for  this  object,  I  am 

K 


110 

inspired  with  great  confidence,  from  the  con- 
viction that  what  will  be  suggested,  is  that 
which  none  will  oppose,  but  all  will  allow  to 
be  not  only  practicable,  but  safe,  suitable, 
and  Christian. 

To  appreciate  these  suggestions,  however, 
it  is  needful  previously  to  consider  some  par- 
ticulars that  exhibit  the  spirit  of  the  age  and 
the  tendencies  of  our  peculiar  form  of  gov- 
ernment. 

The  prominent  principle,  now  in  develop- 
ment, as  indicating  the  spirit  of  the  age,  is 
the  perfect  right  of  all  men  to  entire  free- 
dom of  opinion.  By  this  I  do  not  mean 
that  men  are  coming  to  think  that  "  it  is  no 
matter  what  a  man  believes,  if  he  is  only 
honest  and  sincere,"  or  that  they  are  grow- 
ing any  more  lenient  towards  their  fellow- 
men,  for  the  evil  consequences  they  bring 
on  themselves  or  on  others  for  believing 
wrong. 

But  they  are  coming  to  adopt  the  maxim, 
that  no  man  shall  be  forced  by  pains  and 
penalties  to  adopt  the  opinions  of  other  minds, 
but  that  every  man  shall  be  free  to  form  his 


Ill 

own  opinions,  and  to  propagate  them  by  all 
lawful  means. 

At  the  same  time  another  right  is  claimed, 
which  is  of  necessity  involved  in  the  pre- 
ceding,— the  right  to  oppose,  by  all  lawful 
means,  the  opinions  and  the  practices  of 
others,  when  they  are  deemed  pernicious 
either  to  individuals  or  to  the  community, 
Facts,  arguments  and  'persuasions  are,  by  all, 
conceded  to  be  lawful  means  to  employ  in 
propagating  our  own  views,  and  in  opposing 
the  opinions  and  practices  of  others. 

These  fundamental  principles  of  liberty 
have  in  all  past  ages  been  restrained  by  co- 
ercive influences,  either  of  civil  or  of  eccle- 
siastical power.  But  in  this  nation,  all  such 
coercive  influences,  both  of  church  and  state, 
have  ceased.  Every  man  may  think  what 
he  pleases  about  government,  or  religion,  or 
any  thing  else;  he  may  propagate  his  opinions, 
he  may  controvert  opposite  opinions,  and  no 
magistrate  or  ecclesiastic  can  in  any  legal 
way  restrain  or  punish. 

But  the  form  of  our  government  is  such, 
that  every  measure  that  bears  upon  the  public 


112 

or  private  interest  of  every  citizen,  is  decided 
by  public  sentiment.     All  law^s  and  regula- 
tions in  civil,  or  religious,  or  social  concerns, 
are  decided  by  the  majority  of  votes.  And  the 
present  is  a  time  when  every  doctrine,  every   ^ 
principle,  and   every  practice  which   influ- 
ences the  happiness  of  man,  either  in  this,  or 
in  a  future  life,   is  under  discussion.     The 
whole  nation  is  thrown   into  parties  about 
almost  every  possible   question,   and  every 
man  is  stimulated  in  his  efforts  to  promote 
his  own  plans  by  the  conviction  that  success 
depends  entirely  upon   bringing   his   fellow 
citizens  to  think  as  he  does.     Hence  every 
man  is  fierce  in  maintaining  his  own  right  of  I 
free  discussion,  his  own  right  to  propagate  ' 
his  opinions,  and  his  own  right  to  oppose,  by 
all  lawful  means,  the  opinions  that  conflict 
with  his  own. 

But  the  difficulty  is,  that  a  right  which  all 
men  claim  for  themselves,  with  the  most  sen- 
sitive and  pertinacious  inflexibility,  they  have 
not  yet  learned  to  accord  to  their  fellow  men, 
in  cases  where  their  own  interests  are  in-  | 
volved.     Every  man  is  saying,  "let  me  have 


113 

full  liberty  to  propagate  my  opinions,  and  to 
oppose  all  that  I  deem  wrong  and  injurious, 
but  let  no  man  take  this  liberty  -with  my 
opinions  and  practices.  Every  man  may  be- 
lieve what  he  pleases,  and  propagate  what 
he  pleases,  provided  he  takes  care  not  to 
attack  any  thing  w^hich  belongs  to  me." 

And  how  do  men  exert  themselves  to 
restrain  this  corresponding  right  of  their 
fellow  men?  Not  by  going  to  the  magistrate 
to  inform,  or  to  the  spiritual  despot  to  obtain 
ecclesiastical  penalties,  but  he  resorts  to 
methods,  which,  if  successful,  are  in  effect  the 
most  severe  pains  and  penalties  that  can 
restrain  freedom  of  opinion. 

What  is  dearer  to  a  man  than  his  charac- 
ter, involving  as  it  does,  the  esteem,  respect 
and  affection  of  friends,  neighbours  and  so- 
ciety, with  all  the  confidence,  honour,  trust 
and  emolument  that  flow  from  general  es- 
teem? How  sensitive  is  every  man  to  any 
thing  that  depreciates  his  intellectual  charac- 
ter! What  torture,  to  be  ridiculed  or  pitied 
for  such  deficiencies!  How  cruel  the  suffer- 
ing, when  his  moral  delinquencies  are  held  up 

k2 


114 

to  public  scoi'n  and  reprehension  I  Confisca- 
tion, stripes,  chains,  and  even  death  itself,  are 
often  less  dreaded. 

It  is  this  method  of  punishment  to  which 
men  resort,  to  deter  their  fellow-men  from 
exercising  those  rights  of  liberty  which  they 
so  tenaciously  claim  for  themselves.  Examine 
now  the  methods  adopted  by  almost  all  who 
are  engaged  in  the  various  conflicts  of  opinion 
in  this  nation,  and  you  will  find  that  there  are 
certain  measures  which  combatants  almost 
invariably  employ. 

They  either  attack  the  intellectual  charac- 
ter of  opponents,  or  they  labour  to  make  them 
appear  narrow-minded,  illiberal  and  bigoted, 
or  they  impeach  their  honesty  and  veracity, 
or  they  stigmatize  their  motives  as  mean, 
selfish,  ambitious,  or  in  some  other  respect 
unworthy  and  degrading.  Instead  of  truth, 
and  evidence,  and  argument,  personal  depre- 
ciation, sneers,  insinuations,  or  open  abuse, 
are  the  weapons  employed.  This  method  of 
resisting  freedom  of  opinions,  by  pains  and 
penalties,  arises  in  part  from  the  natural  sel- 
fishness of  man,  and  in  part  from  want  of  clear 


iir, 

distinctions  as  to  the  rights  and  duties  in» 
volved  in  freedom  of  opinion  and  freedom  of 
speech. 

The  great  fundamental  principle  that  makes 
this  matter  clear,  is  this,  that  a  broad  and  in- 
variable distinction  should  ever  be  preserved 
between  the  opinions  and  practices  that  are 
discussed)  and  the  advocates  of  these  opinions 
and  practices. 

It  is  a  sacred  and  imperious  duty,  that  rests 
on  every  human  being,  to  exert  all  his  in- 
fluence in  opposing  every  thing  that  he  be- 
lieves is  dangerous  and  wrong,  and  in  sus- 
taining all  that  he  believes  is  safe  and  right. 
And  in  doing  this^  no  compromise  is  to  be 
made,  in  order  to  shield  country,  party,  friends, 
or  even  self,  from  any  just  censure.  Every 
man  is  bound  by  duty  to  God  and  to  his 
country,  to  lay  his  finger  on  every  false  prin- 
ciple, or  injurious  practice,  and  boldly  say, 
"  this  is  wrong — this  is  dangerous — this  I  will 
oppose  with  all  my  influence,  whoever  it  may 
be  that  advocates  or  practises  it."  And 
every  man  is  bound  to  use  his  eflx)rts  to  turn 
public  sentiment  against  all  that  he  believes 


116 

to  be  wrong  and  injurious,  either  in  regard  to 
this  life,  or  to  the  future  world.  And  every 
man  deserves  to  be  respected  and  applauded, 
just  in  proportion  as  he  fearlessly  and  impar- 
tially, and  in  a  proper  spirit,  time  and  manner y 
fulfils  this  duty. 

The  doctrine,  just  now  alluded  to,  that  it  is 
"  no  matter  what  a  man  believes,  if  he  is  only 
honest  and  sincere,"  is  as  pernicious,  as  it  is 
contrary  to  religion  and  to  common  sense.  It 
is  as  absurd,  and  as  impracticable,  as  it  would 
be  to  urge  on  the  mariner  the  maxim,  "  no 
matter  which  way  you  believe  to  be  north,  if 
you  only  steer  aright."  A  man's  character, 
feelings,  and  conduct,  all  depend  upon  his  opin- 
ions. If  a  man  can  reason  himself  into  the  belief 
that  it  is  right  to  take  the  property  of  others 
and  to  deceive  by  false  statements,  he  will  pro- 
bably prove  a  thief  and  a  liar.  It  is  of  the  great- 
est concern,  therefore,  to  every  man,  that  his 
fellow-men  should  believe  right,  and  one  of 
his  most  sacred  duties  is  to  use  all  his  in- 
fluence to  promote  correct  opinions. 

But  the  performance  of  this  duty,  does  by 
no  means  involve  the  necessity  of  attacking 


117 

the  character  or  motives  of  the  advocates  of 
false  opinions,  or  of  holding  them  up,  indivi- 
dually, to  public  odium. 

Erroneous  opinions  are  sometimes  the  con- 
sequence of  unavoidable  ignorance,  or  of 
mental  imbecihty,  or  of  a  weak  and  erring 
judgment,  or  of  false  testimony  from  others, 
which  cannot  be  rectified.  In  such  cases, 
the  advocates  of  false  opinions  are  to  be 
pitied  rather  than  blamed;  and  while  the 
opinions  and  their  tendencies  may  be  publicly 
exposed,  the  men  may  be  objects  of  affection 
and  kindness. 

In  other  cases,  erroneous  opinions  spring 
from  criminal  indifference,  from  prejudice, 
from  indolence,  from  pride,  from  evil  passions, 
or  from  selfish  interest.  In  all  such  cases, 
men  deserve  blame  for  their  pernicious  opin- 
ions, and  the  evils  which  flow  from  them. 

But,  it  maybe  asked, how  are  men  to  decide, 
when  their  fellow-men  are  guilty  for  holding 
wrong  opinions ;  when  they  deserve  blame, 
and  when  they  are  to  be  regarded  only  with 
pity  and  commiseration  by  those  who  be- 
lieve them  to  be  in  the  wrong?  Here,  surely, 


118 

is  a  place  where  some  correct  principle  is 
greatly  needed. 

Is  every  man  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  his 
fellow-man,  and  decide  what  are  his  intel- 
lectual capacities,  and  what  the  measure  of 
his  judgment?  Is  every  man  to  take  the  office 
of  the  Searcher  of  Hearts,  to  try  the  feelings 
and  motives  of  his  fellow-man?  Is  that  most 
difficult  of  all  analysis,  the  estimating  of  the 
feelings,  purposes,  and  motives,  which  every 
man,  who  examines  his  own  secret  thoughts, 
finds  to  be  so  complex,  so  recondite,  so  in- 
tricate ;  is  this  to  be  the  basis,  not  only  of  in- 
dividual opinion,  but  of  public  reward  and 
censure?  Is  every  man  to  constitute  himself 
a  judge  of  the  amount  of  time  and  interest 
given  to  the  proper  investigation  of  truth 
by  his  fellow-man  ?  Surely,  this  cannot  be  a 
correct  principle. 

Though  there  may  be  single  cases  in  which 
we  can  know  that  our  fellow-men  are  weak 
in  intellect,  or  erring  in  judgment,  or  per- 
verse in  feeling,  or  misled  by  passion,  or 
biased  by  selfish  interest,  as  a  general  fact  we 


119 

are  not  competent  to  decide  these  matters,  in 
regard  to  those  who  differ  from  us  in  opinion. 

For  this  reason  it  is  manifestly  wrong  and 
irrelevant,  when  discussing  questions  of  duty 
or  expediency,  to  bring  before  the  public  the 
character  or  the  motives  of  the  individual  ad- 
vocates of  opinions. 

But,  it  may  be  urged,  how  can  the  evil 
tendencies  of  opinions  or  of  practices  be  in- 
vestigated, without  involving  a  consideration 
of  the  character  and  conduct  of  those  who 
advocate  them  ?  To  this  it  may  be  replied, 
that  the  tendencies  of  opinions  and  practices 
can  never  be  ascertained  by  discussing  indivi- 
dual character.  It  is  cZas^es  of  persons,  or  large 
communities f  embracing  persons  of  all  va- 
rieties of  character  and  circumstances,  that 
are  the  only  proper  subjects  of  investigation 
for  this  object.  For  example,  a  community 
of  Catholics,  and  a  community  of  Protestants, 
may  be  compared,  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
the  moral  tendencies  of  their  different  opin- 
ions. Scotland  and  New  England,  where  the 
principles  opposite  to  Catholicism  have  most 
prevailed,  may  properly  be  compared  with 


120 

Spain  and  Italy,  where  the  CathoHc  system 
has  been  most  fairly  tried.  But  to  select  cer- 
tain individuals  who  are  defenders  of  these 
two  different  systems,  as  examples  to  illus- 
trate their  tendencies,  w^ould  be  as  improper 
as  it  would  be  to  select  a  kernel  of  grain  to 
prove  the  good  or  bad  character  of  a  whole 

crop. 

To  illustrate  by  a  more  particular  example. 
The  doctrines  of  the  Atheist  school  are  now 
under  discussion,  and  Robert  Owen  and 
Fanny  Wright  have  been  their  prominent  ad- 
vocates. 

In  agreement  with  the  above  principles,  it 
is  a  right,  and  the  duty  of  every  man  who 
has  any  influence  and  opportunity,  to  show 
the  absurditv  of  their  doctrines,  the  weakness 
of  their  arguments,  and  the  fatal  tendencies 
of  their  opinions.     It  is  right  to  show  that  the 
practical  iidoption  of  their  principles  indicates 
a  want  of  common  sense,  just  as  sov^ing  the 
ocean  with  grain  and  expecting  a  crop  would 
indicate  the  same  deficiency.     If  the  advo- 
cates of  these  doctrines  carry  out  their  prin- 
ciples into  practice,  in  any  such  way  as  to 


121 

offend  the  taste,  or  infringe  on  the  rights  of 
others,  it  is  proper  to  express  disgust  and  dis- 
approbation. If  the  female  advocate  chooses 
to  come  upon  a  stage,  and  expose  her  person, 
dress,  and  elocution  to  public  criticism,  it  is 
right  to  express  disgust  at  whatever  is  of- 
fensive and  indecorous,  as  it  is  to  criti- 
cise the  book  of  an  author,  or  the  dancincr 
of  an  actress,  or  any  thing  else  that  is  pre- 
sented to  public  observation.  And  it  is  right 
to  make  all  these  things  appear  as  odious  and 
reprehensible  to  others  as  they  do  to  our- 
selves. 

But  what  is  the  private  character  of  Robert 
Owen  or  Fanny  Wright?  Whether  they  are 
ignorant  or  weak  in  intellect ;  whether  they 
have  properly  examined  the  sources  of  truth; 
how  much  they  have  been  biased  by  pride, 
passion,  or  vice,  in  adopting  their  opinions  ; 
whether  they  are  honest  and  sincere  in  their 
belief;  whether  they  are  selfish  or  benevolent 
in  their  aims,  are  not  matters  which  in  any 
way  pertain  to  the  discussion.  They  are 
questions  about  which  none  are  qualified  to 
judge,  except  those  in  close  and  intimate  com- 

L 


122 

munion  with  them.  We  may  inquire  with 
propriety  as  to  the  character  of  a  community 
of  Atheists,  or  of  a  community  where  such 
sentiments  extensively  prevail,  as  compared 
with  a  community  of  opposite  sentiments. 
But  the  private  character,  feelings,  and  mo- 
tives of  the  individual  advocates  of  these  doc- 
trines, are  not  proper  subjects  of  investiga- 
tion in  any  public  discussion. 

If,  then,  it  be  true,  that  attacks  on  the  cha- 
racter and  motives  of  the  advocates  of  opin- 
ions are  entirely  irrelevant  and  not  at  all  ne- 
cessary for  the  discovery  of  truth ;  if  injury 
inflicted  on  character  is  the  most  severe  pe- 
nalty that  can  be  employed  to  restrain  free- 
dom of  opinions  and  freedom  of  speech,  what 
are  we  to  say  of  the  state  of  things  in  this 
nation? 

Where  is  there  a  party  which  does  not  in 
effect  say  to  every  man,  "  if  you  dare  to  op- 
pose the  principles  or  practices  we  sustain, 
you  shall  be  punished  with  personal  odium?" 
which  does  not  say  to  every  member  of  the 
party,  "  uphold  your  party,  right  or  wrong ; 
oppose  all  that  is  adverse  to  your  party,  right 
or  wrong,  or  else  suffer  the  penalty  of  having 


123 

your  motives,  character,  and  conduct,  im- 
peached?" 

Look  first  at  the  political  arena.  Where 
is  the  advocate  of  any  measure  that  does  not 
suffer  sneers,  ridicule,  contempt,  and  all  that 
tends  to  depreciate  character  in  public  esti- 
mation? Where  is  the  partisan  that  is  not  at- 
tacked, as  either  weak  in  intellect,  or  dis- 
honest in  principle,  or  selfish  in  motives  ?  And 
where  is  the  man  who  is  linked  with  any  po- 
litical party,  that  dares  to  stand  up  fearlessly 
and  defend  what  is  good  in  opposers,  and  re- 
prove what  is  wrong  in  his  own  party  ? 

Look  into  the  religious  world.  There, 
even  those  who  take  their  party  name  from 
their  professed  liberality,  are  saying,  "  who- 
ever shall  adopt  principles  that  exclude  us 
from  the  Christian  church,  and  our  clergy 
from  the  pulpit,  shall  be  held  up  either  as  in- 
tellectually degraded,  or  as  narrow-minded 
and  bigoted,  or  as  ambitious,  partisan  and 
persecuting  in  spirit.  No  man  shall  believe 
a  creed  that  excludes  us  from  the  pale  of 
Christianity,  under  penalty  of  all  the  odium 
we  can  inflict," 


124 

So  in  the  Catholic  controversy.  Catholics 
and  their  friends  practically  declare  war 
against  all  free  discussion  on  this  point.  The 
decree  has  gone  forth,  that  "  no  man  shall  ap- 
pear for  the  purpose  of  proving  that  Catho- 
licism is  contrary  to  Scripture,  or  immoral 
and  anti-republican  in  tendency,  under  penalty 
of  being  denounced  as  a  dupe,  or  a  hypo- 
crite, or  a  persecutor,  or  a  narrows-minded 
and  prejudiced  bigot. 

On  the  contrary,  those  who  attack  what  is 
called  liberal  Christianity,  or  who  aim  to  op- 
pose the  progress  of  Catholicism,  how  often 
do  they  exhibit  a  severe  and  uncharitable 
spirit  towards  the  individuals  whose  opinions 
they  controvert.  Instead  of  loving  the  men, 
and  rendering  to  them  all  the  offices  of  Chris- 
tian kindness,  and  according  to  them  all  due 
credit  for  whatever  is  desirable  in  character 
and  conduct,  how  often  do  opposers  seem  to 
feel,  that  it  will  not  answer  to  allow  that  there 
is  any  thing  good,  either  in  the  system  or  in 
those  who  have  adopted  it.  "  Every  thing 
about  my  party  is  right,  and  every  thing 
in  the  opposing  party  is  wrong,"  seems  to  be 


125 

the  universal  maxim  of  the  times.  And  it  is 
the  remark  of  some  of  the  most  intelligent 
foreign  travellers  among  us,  and  of  our  own 
citizens  who  go  abroad,  that  there  is  no  coun- 
try to  be  found,  where  freedom  of  opinion, 
and  freedom  of  speech  is  more  really  influ- 
enced and  controlled  by  the  fear  of  pains  and 
penalties,  than  in  this  land  of  boasted  freedom. 
In  other  nations,  the  control  is  exercised  by 
government,  in  respect  to  a  very  few  matters ; 
in  this  country  it  is  party-spirit  that  rules  with 
an  iron  rod,  and  shakes  its  scorpion  whips 
over  every  interest  and  every  employment 
of  man. 

From  this  mighty  source  spring  constant 
detraction,  gossiping,  tale-bearing,  falsehood, 
anger,  pride,  malice,  revenge,  and  every 
evil  wa)rd  and  work. 

Every  man  sets  himself  up  as  the  judge  of 
the  intellectual  character,  the  honesty,  the 
sincerity,  the  feelings,  opportunities,  motives, 
and  intentions,  of  his  fellow-man.  And  so 
they  fall  upon  each  other,  not  with  swords 
and  spears,  but  with  the  tongue,  "that  unruly 

L  2 


12G 

member,  that  setteth  on  fire  the  course  of  na* 
ture,  and  is  set  on  fire  of  hell." 

Can  any  person  who  seeks  to  maintain  the 
peaceful,  loving,  and  gentle  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, go  out  into  the  world  at  this  day, 
without  being  bewildered  at  the  endless  con- 
flicts, and  grieved  and  dismayed  at  the  bitter 
and  unhallowed  passions  they  engender  ?  Can 
an  honest,  upright  and  Christian  man,  go  into 
these  conflicts,  and  with  unflinching  firmness 
stand  up  for  all  that  is  good,  and  oppose  all 
that  is  evil,  in  whatever  party  it  may  be  found, 
without  a  measure  of  moral  courage  such  as 
few  can  command?  And  if  he  carries  him- 
self through  with  an  unyielding  integrity,  and 
maintains  his  consistency,  is  he  not  exposed 
to  storms  of  bitter  revilings,  and  to  peltings 
from  both  parties  between  which  he  may 
stand? 

What  is  the  end  of  these  things  to  be? 
Must  we  give  up  free  discussion,  and  again 
chain  up  the  human  mind  under  the  despotism 
of  past  ages?  No,  this  will  never  be.  God 
designs  that  every  intelligent  mind  shall  be 
governed,  not  by  coercion,  but  by  reason,  and 


127 

conscience,  and  truth.  Man  must  reason,  and 
experiment,  and  compare  past  and  present 
results,  and  hear  and  know  all  that  can  be 
said  on  both  sides  of  every  question  which 
influences  either  private  or  public  happiness, 
either  for  this  life  or  for  the  life  to  come. 

But  while  this  process  is  going  on,  must  we 
be  distracted  and  tortured  by  the  baleful  pas- 
sions and  wicked  works  that  unrestrained 
party-spirit  and  ungoverned  factions  will 
bring  upon  us,  under  such  a  government  as 
ours?  Must  we  rush  on  to  disunion,  and 
civil  wars,  and  servile  wars,  till  all  their  train 
of  horrors  pass  over  us  like  devouring  fire? 

There  is  an  influence  that  can  avert  these 
dangers — a  spirit  that  can  allay  the  storm — 
that  can  say  to  the  troubled  winds  and  wa- 
ters, "peace,  be  still." 

It  is  that  spirit  which  is  gentle  and  easy  to 
be  entreated,  which  thinketh  no  evil,  which 
rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the 
truth,  which  is  not  easily  provoked,  which 
hopeth  all  things,  which  beareth  all  things. 
Let  this  spirit  be  infused  into  the  mass  of  the 
nation,  and  then  truth  maybe  sought,  defend- 


128 

ed,  and  propagated,  and  error  detected,  and 
its  evils  exposed;  and  yet  we  may  escape  the 
evils  that  now  rage  through  this  nation,  and 
threaten  us  with  such  fiery  plagues. 

And  is  there  not  a  peculiar  propriety  in 
such  an  emergency,  in  looking  for  the  espe- 
cial agency  and  assistance  of  females,  who 
are  shut  out  from  the  many  temptations  that 
assail  the  other  sex, — who  are  the  appointed 
ministers  of  all  the  gentler  charities  of  life, — 
who  are  mingled  throughout  the  whole  mass 
of  the  community, — who  dwell  in  those  re- 
tirements  where  only  peace  and  love  ought 
ever  to  enter, — whose  comfort,  influence,  and 
dearest  blessings,  all  depend  on  preserving 
peace  and  good  will  among  men? 

In  the  present  aspect  of  affairs  among 
us,  when  everything  seems  to  be  tending  to 
disunion  and  distraction,  it  surely  has  become 
the  duty  of  every  female  instantly  to  relin- 
quish the  attitude  of  a  partisan,  in  every  mat- 
ter of  clashing  interests,  and  to  assume  the 
oflice  of  a  mediator,  and  an  advocate  of 
peace.  And  to  do  this,  it  is  not  necessary 
that  a  woman  should  in  any  manner  relinquish 


129 

her  opinion  as  to  the  evils  or  the  benefits,  the 
right  or  the  wrong,  of  any  principle  or  prac- 
tice. But,  while  quietly  holding  her  own 
opinions,  and  calmly  avowing  them,  when 
conscience  and  integrity  make  the  duty  im- 
perative, every  female  can  employ  her  influ- 
ence, not  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  or  regu- 
lating public  sentiment,  but  rather  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  a  spirit  of  candour,  for- 
bearance, charity,  and  peace. 

And  there  are  certain  prominent  maxims 
which  every  woman  can  adopt  as  peculiarly 
belonging  to  her,  as  the  advocate  of  charity 
and  peace,  and  which  it  should  be  her  especial 
oflice  to  illustrate,  enforce,  and  sustain,  by 
every  method  in  her  power. 

The  first  is,  that  every  person  ought  to  be 
sustained,  not  only  in  the  right  of  propagating 
his  own  opinions  and  practices,  but  in  oppos- 
ing all  those  principles  and  practices  which 
he  deems  erroneous.  For  there  is  no  opinion 
which  a  man  can  propagate,  that  does  not 
oppose  some  adverse  interest;  and  if  a  man 
must  cease  to  advocate  his  own  views  of 
truth  and  rectitude,  because  he  opposes  the 


130 


interest  or  prejudices  of  some  other  man  or 
party,  all  freedom  of  opinion,  of  speech,  and 
of  action,  is  gone.  All  that  can  be  demanded 
is,  that  a  man  shall  not  resort  to  falsehood, 
false  reasoning,  or  to  attacks  on  character,  in 
maintaining  his  own  rights.  If  he  states  things 
which  are  false,  it  is  right  to  show  the  false- 
hood,— if  he  reasons  falsely,  it  is  right  to 
point  out  his  sophistry, — if  he  impeaches  the 
character  or  motives  of  opponents,  it  is  right 
to  express  disapprobation  and  disgust;  but  if 
he  uses  only  facts,  arguments,  and  persua- 
sions, he  is  to  be  honoured  and  sustained  for 
all  the  efforts  he  makes  to  uphold  what  he 
deems  to  be  right,  and  to  put  down  what  he 
believes  to  be  wrong. 

Another  maxim,  which  is  partially  involved 
in  the  first,  is,  that  every  man  ought  to  allow 
his  own  principles  and  practices  to  be  freely 
discussed,  with  patience  and  magnanimity, 
and  not  to  complain  of  persecution,  or  to  at- 
tack the  character  or  motives  of  those  who 
claim  that  he  is  in  the  wrong.  If  he  is  belied, 
if  his  character  is  impeached,  if  his  motives 
are  assailed,  if  his  intellectual  capabilities  are 


131 

made  the  objects  of  sneers  or  commiseration, 
he  has  a  right  to  complain,  and  to  seek  sym- 
pathy as  an  injured  man;  but  no  man  is  a 
consistent  friend  and  defender  of  liberty  of 
speech,  who  cannot  bear  to  have  his  own 
principles  and  practices  subjected  to  the 
same  ordeal  as  he  demands  should  be  im- 
posed on  others. 

Another  maxim  of  peace  and  charity  is, 
that  every  man's  own  testimony  is  to  be 
taken  in  regard  to  his  motives,  feeHngs,  and 
intentions.  Though  we  may  fear  that  a  fellow- 
man  is  mistaken  in  his  views  of  his  ow^n  feel- 
ings, or  that  he  does  not  speak  the  truth,  it  is 
as  contrary  to  the  rules  of  good  breeding  as 
it  is  to  the  laws  of  Christianity,  to  assume  or 
even  insinuate  that  this  is  the  case.  If  a 
man's  word  cannot  be  taken  in  regard  to  his 
own  motives,  feelings,  and  intentions,  he  can 
find  no  redress  for  the  wrong  that  may  be 
done  to  him.  It  is  unjust  and  unreasonable 
in  the  extreme  to  take  any  other  course  than 
the  one  here  urged. 

Another  most  important  maxim  of  candour 
and  charity  is,  that  when  we  are  to  assign  mo- 


132 

lives  for  the  conduct  of  our  fellow-men,  espe- 
cially of  those  who  oppose  our  interests,  we 
are  obligated  to  put  the  best,  rather  than  the 
worst  construction,  on  all  they  say  and  do. 
Instead  of  assigning  the  worst  as  the  probable 
motive,  it  is  always  a  duty  to  hope  that  it  is 
the  best,  until  evidence  is  so  unequivocal  that 
there  is  no  place  for  such  a  hope. 

Another  maxim  of  peace  and  charity  re- 
spects the  subject  of  retaliation.     Whatever 
may  be  said  respecting  the  literal  construc- 
tion of  some  of  the  rules  of  the  gospel,  no  one 
can  deny  that  they  do,  whether  figurative  or 
not,  forbid  retaliation  and  revenge ;  that  they 
do  assume  that  men  are  not  to  be  judges  and 
executioners  of  their  own  wrongs;  but  that 
injuries  are  to  be  borne  with  meekness,  and 
that  retributive  justice  must  be  left  to  God,- 
and  to  the  laws.     If  a  man  strikes,  we  are 
not  to  return  the  blow,  but  appeal  to  the  laws.- 
If  a  man  uses  abusive  or  invidious  language^ 
we  are  not  to  return  railing  for  railing.     If  a 
man  impeaches  our  motives  and  attacks  our 
character,  we  are  not  to  return  the  evil.     If 
a  man  sneers  and  ridicules,  we  are  not  to  re- 


133 

taliate  with  ridicule  and  sneers.  If  a  man 
reports  our  weaknesses  and  failings,  we  are 
not  to  revenge  ourselves  by  reporting  his. 
No  man  has  a  right  to  report  evil  of  others, 
except  when  the  justification  of  the  innocent, 
or  a  regard  for  public  or  individual  safety, 
demands  it.  This  is  the  strict  law  of  the 
gospel,  inscribed  in  all  its  pages,  and  meeting 
in  the  face  all  those  unchristian  and  indecent 
violations  that  now  are  so  common,  in  almost 
every  conflict  of  intellect  or  of  interest. 

Another  most  important  maxim  of  peace 
and  charity  imposes  the  obligation  to  guard 
our  fellow-men  from  all  unnecessary  tempta- 
tion. We  are  taught  daily  to  pray,  "lead  us 
not  into  temptation;"  and  thus  are  admonish- 
ed not  only  to  avoid  all  unnecessary  tempta- 
tion ourselves,  but  to  save  our  fellow-men 
from  the  danger.  Can  we  ask  our  Heavenly 
Parent  to  protect  us  from  temptation,  while 
we  recklessly  spread  baits  and  snares  for  our 
fellow-men?  No,  we  are  bound  in  every 
measure  to  have  a  tender  regard  for  the 
weaknesses  and  habilities  of  all  around,  and 
ever  to  be  ready  to  yield  even  our  just  rights, 

M 


134 

when  we  can  lawfully  do  it,  rather  than  to 
tempt  others  to  sin.  The  generous  and  high- 
minded  Apostle  declares,  "if  meat  make  my 
brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  flesh  while  the 
world  standeth ;"  and  it  is  the  spirit  of  this 
maxim  that  every  Christian  ought  to  culti- 
vate. There  are  no  occasions  when  this 
maxim  is  more  needed,  than  when  we  wish 
to  modify  the  opinions,  or  alter  the  practices 
of  our  fellow-men.  If,  in  such  cases,  we  find 
that  the  probabilities  are,  that  any  interfer- 
ence of  ours  will  increase  the  power  of 
tempation,  and  lead  to  greater  evils  than 
those  we  wish  to  remedy,  we  are  bound  to 
forbear.  If  we  find  that  one  mode  of  at- 
tempting a  measure  will  increase  the  power 
of  temptation,  and  another  will  not  involve 
this  danger,  we  are  bound  to  take  the  safest 
course.  In  all  cases  we  are  obhgated  to  be 
as  careful  to  protect  our  fellow-men  from 
temptation,  as  we  are  to  watch  and  pray 
against  it  in  regard  to  ourselves. 

Another  maxim  of  peace  and  charity  re- 
quires a  most  scrupulous  regard  to  the  repu- 
tation, character,  and  feelings  of  our  fellow- 


135 


men,  and  especially  of  those  who  are  opposed 
in  any  way  to  our  wishes  and  interests.  Every 
man  and  every  woman  feels  that  it  is  wrong 
for  others  to  propagate  their  faults  and  weak- 
ness through  the  community.  Every  one 
feels  wounded  and  injured  to  find  that  others 
are  making  his  defects  and  infirmities  the 
subject  of  sneers  and  ridicule.  And  what, 
then,  is  the  rule  of  duty?  "As  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them." 
With  this  rule  before  his  eyes  and  in  his  mind, 
can  a  man  retail  his  neighbour's  faults,  or 
sneer  at  his  deficiencies,  or  ridicule  his  in- 
firmities, with  a  clear  conscience?  There 
are  cases  when  the  safety  of  individuals,  or 
public  justice,  demands  that  a  man's  defects 
of  character,  or  crimes,  be  made  public;  but 
no  man  is  justified  in  communicating  to  others 
any  evil  respecting  any  of  his  fellow-men, 
when  he  cannot  appeal  to  God  as  his  witness 
that  he  does  it  from  benevolent  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  his  fellow-men — from  a  desire  to 
save  individuals  or  the  public  from  some  evil 
— and  not  from  a  malevolent  or  gossiping 
propensity.    Oh,  that  this  law  of  love  and 


136 

charity  could  find  an  illustration  and  an  ad- 
vocate in  every  female  of  this  nation !  Oh, 
that  every  current  slander,  and  every  inju- 
rious report,  naight  stand  abashed,  whenever 
it  meets  the  notice  of  a  woman! 

These  are  the  maxims  of  peace  and  chari- 
ty, which  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  females  of 
our  country  to  advocate,  both  by  example 
and  by  entreaties.  These  are  the  principles 
which  alone  can  protect  and  preserve  the 
right  of  free  discussion,  the  freedom  of  speech, 
and  liberty  of  the  press.  And  with  our  form 
of  government,  and  our  Habilities  to  faction 
and  party-spirit,  the  country  will  be  safe  and 
happy  only  in  proportion  to  the  prevalence  of 
these  maxims  among  the  mass  of  the  com- 
munity. There  probably  will  never  arrive  a 
period  in  the  history  of  this  nation,  when  the 
influence  of  these  principles  will  be  more 
needed,  than  the  present.  The  question  of 
slavery  involves  more  pecuniary  interests, 
touches  more  private  relations,  involves  more 
prejudices,  is  entwined  with  more  sectional, 
party,  and  poHtical  interests,  than  any  other 
which  can  ever  again  arise.    It  is  a  matter 


137 

which,  if  discussed  and  controlled  without  the 
influence  of  these  principles  of  charity  and 
peace,  will  shake  this  nation  like  an  earth- 
quake, and  pour  over  us  the  volcanic  waves 
of  every  terrific  passion.  The  trembling 
earth,  the  low  murmuring  thunders,  already 
admonish  us  of  our  danger;  and  if  females 
can  exert  any  saving  influence  in  this  emer- 
gency, it  is  time  for  them  to  awake. 

And  there  are  topics  that  they  may  urge 
upon  the  attention  of  their  friends,  at  least  as 
matters  worthy  of  serious  consideration  and 
inquiry. 

Is  a  woman  surrounded  by  those  who  fa- 
vour the  Abolition  measures  ?  Can  she  not 
with  propriety  urge  such  inquiries  as  these  ? 

Is  not  slavery  to  be  brought  to  an  end  by 
free  discussion,  and  is  it  not  a  war  upon  the 
right  of  free  discussion  to  impeach  the  mo- 
tives and  depreciate  the  character  of  the  op- 
posers  of  Abolition  measures?  When  the  op- 
posers  of  Abolition  movements  claim  that 
they  honestly  and  sincerely  believe  that  these 
measures  tend  to  perpetuate  slavery,  or  to 
bring  it  to  an  end  by  servile  wars,  and  civil 

M  2 


138 

disunion,  and  the  most  terrific  miseries^ 
when  they  object  to  the  use  of  their  pulpits, 
to  the  embodying  of  literary  students,  to  the 
agitation  of  the  community,  by  Abolition 
agents — when  they  object  to  the  circulation 
of  such  papers  and  tracts  as  Abolitionists  pre- 
pare, because  they  believe  them  most  perni- 
cious in  their  influence  and  tendencies,  is  it 
not  as  much  persecution  to  use  invidious  in- 
sinuations, depreciating  accusation  and  im- 
peachment of  motive,  in  order  to  intimidate, 
as  it  is  for  the  opposers  of  Abolitionism  to 
use  physical  force  ?  Is  not  the  only  method  by 
which  the  South  can  be  brought  to  relinquish 
slavery,  a  conviction  that  not  only  her  duty  ^hut 
her  highest  interest,  requires  her  to  do  it?  And 
is  not  calm,  rational  Christian  discussion  the 
only  proper  method  of  securing  this  end? 
Can  a  community  that  are  thrown  into  such 
a  state  of  high  exasperation  as  now  exists  at 
the  South,  ever  engage  in  such  discussions, 
till  the  storm  of  excitement  and  passion  is 
allayed  ?  Ought  not  every  friend  of  liberty 
and  of  free  discussion,  to  take  every  possible 
means  to  soothe  exasperated  feelings,  and  to 


139 

avoid  all  those  offensive  peculiarities  that  in 
their  nature  tend  to  inflame  and  offend  ? 

Is  a  woman  among  those  who  oppose 
Abolition  movements?  She  can  urge  such 
inquiries  as  these:  Ought  not  Abolitionists 
to  be  treated  as  if  they  were  actuated  by  the 
motives  of  benevolence  which  they  profess? 
Ought  not  every  patriot  and  every  Christian 
to  throw  all  his  influence  against  the  im- 
peachment of  motives,  the  personal  detrac- 
tion, and  the  violent  measures  that  are  turned 
upon  this  body  of  men,  who,  however  they 
may  err  in  judgment  or  in  spirit,  are  among 
the  most  exemplary  and  benevolent  in  the 
land?  If  Abolitionists  are  censurable  for 
taking  measures  that  exasperate  rather  than 
convince  and  persuade,  are  not  their  oppo- 
nents, who  take  exactly  the  same  measures 
to  exasperate  Abolitionists  and  their  friends, 
as  much  to  blame  ?  If  Abolitionism  prospers 
by  the  abuse  of  its  advocates,  are  not  the 
authors  of  this  abuse  accountable  for  the  in- 
crease of  the  very  evils  they  deprecate  ? 

It  is  the  opinion  of  intelligent  and  well  in- 
formed men,  that  a  very  large  proportion  of 


140 

the  best  members  of  the  Abolition  party  were 
placed  there,  not  by  the  arguments  of  Abo- 
litionists, but  by  the  abuse  of  their  opposers. 
And  I  know  some  of  the  noblest  minds  that 
stand  there,  chiefly  from  the  influence  of 
those  generous  impulses  that  defend  the  in- 
jured and  sustain  the  persecuted,  while  many 
others  have  joined  these  ranks  from  the  im- 
pression that  Abolitionism  and  the  right  of 
free  discussion  have  become  identical  in- 
terests. Although  I  cannot  perceive  why  the 
right  of  free  discussion,  the  right  of  petition, 
and  other  rights  that  have  become  involved 
in  this  matter,  cannot  be  sustained  without 
joining  an  association  that  has  sustained  such 
injurious  action  and  such  erroneous  principles, 
yet  other  minds,  and  those  which  are  worthy 
of  esteem,  have  been  led  to  an  opposite  con- 
clusion. 

The  South,  in  the  moments  of  angry  ex- 
citement, have  made  unreasonable  demands 
upon  the  non-slave-holding  States,  and  have 
employed  overbearing  and  provoking  lan- 
guage. This  has  provoked  re-action  again 
at  the  North,  and  men,  who  heretofore  were 


141 

unexcited,  are  beginning  to  feel  indignant, 
and  to  say,  "  Let  the  Union  be  sundered." 
Thus  anger  begets  anger,  and  unreasonable 
measures  provoke  equally  unreasonable  re- 
turns. 

But  when  men,  in  moments  of  excitement 
rush  on  to  such  results,  little  do  they  think  of 
the  momentous  consequences  that  may  fol- 
low. Suppose  the  South  in  her  anger  unites 
with  Texas,  and  forms  a  Southern  slave- 
holding  republic,  under  all  the  exasperating 
influences  that  such  an  avulsion  will  excite  1 
What  will  be  the  prospects  of  the  slave  then, 
compared  wdth  what  they  are  while  we 
dwell  together,  united  by  all  the  ties  of  bro- 
therhood, and  having  free  access  to  those 
whom  we  wish  to  convince  and  persuade  1 

But  who  can  estimate  the  mischiefs  that 
we  must  encounter  while  this  dismember- 
ment, this  tearing  asunder  of  the  joints  and 
members  of  the  body  politic,  is  going  on  1 
What  will  be  the  commotion  and  dismay, 
when  all  our  sources  of  wealth,  prosperity, 
and  comfort,  are  turned  to  occasions  for  an- 
gry and  selfish  strife  ? 


142 


What  agitation  will  ensue  in  individual 
States,  when  it  is  to  be  decided  by  majorities 
which  State  shall  go  to  the  North  and  which 
to  the  South,  and  when  the  discontented  mi- 
nority must  either  give  up  or  fight!  Who 
shall  divide  our  public  lands  between  con- 
tending factions  ?  What  shall  be  done  with 
our  navy  and  all  the  various  items  of  the  na- 
tion's property  ?  What  shall  be  done  when 
the  post-office  stops  its  steady  movement  to 
divide  its  efforts  among  contending  parties  ? 
What  shall  be  done  when  public  credit  stag- 
gers, when  commerce  furls  her  slackened 
sail,  when  property  all  over  the  nation 
changes  its  owners  and  relations?  What 
shall  be  done  with  our  canals  and  railways, 
now  the  bands  of  love  to  bind  us,  then  the 
causes  of  contention  and  jealousy?  What 
umpire  will  appear  to  settle  all  these  ques- 
tions of  interest  and  strife,  between  commu- 
nities thrown  asunder  by  passion,  pride,  and 
mutual  injury? 

It  is  said  that  the  American  people,  though 
heedless  and  sometimes  reckless  at  the  ap- 
proach of  danger,  are  endowed  with  a  strong 


143 

and  latent  principle  of  common  sense,  which, 
when  they  fairly  approach  the  precipice, 
always  brings  them  to  a  stand,  and  makes 
them  as  wise  to  devise  a  remedy  as  they 
were  rash  in  hastening  to  the  danger.  Are 
we  not  approaching  the  very  verge  of  the 
precipice  ?  Can  we  not  already  hear  the 
roar  of  the  waters  below?  Is  not  now 
the  time,  if  ever,  when  our  stern  principles 
and  sound  common  sense  must  wake  to  the 
rescue  ? 

Cannot  the  South  be  a  little  more  patient 
under  the  injurious  action  that  she  feels  she 
has  suffered,  and  cease  demanding  those  con- 
cessions from  the  North,  that  never  will 
be  made?  For  the  North,  though  slower  to 
manifest  feeling,  is  as  sensitive  to  her  right 
of  freedom  of  speech,  as  the  vSouth  can  be  to 
her  rights  of  property. 

Cannot  the  North  bear  with  some  unrea- 
sonable action  from  the  South,  when  it  is  re- 
membered that,  as  the  provocation  came 
from  the  North,  it  is  wise  and  Christian  that 
the  aggressive  party  should  not  so  strictly 


144 

hold  their  tempted  brethren  to  the  rules  of 
right  and  reason  ? 

Cannot  the  South  bear  in  mind  that  at  the 
North  the  colour  of  the  skin  does  not  take 
away  the  feehng  of  brotherhood,  and  though 
it  is  a  badge  of  degradation  in  station  and 
intellect,  yet  it  is  oftener  regarded  with  pity 
and  sympathy  than  with  contempt?  Can- 
not the  South  remember  their  generous  feel- 
ings for  the  Greeks  and  Poles,  and  imagine 
that  some  such  feelings  may  be  awakened 
for  the  African  race,  among  a  people  who 
do  not  believe  either  in  the  policy  or  the 
right  of  slavery  ? 

Cannot  the  North  remember  how  jealous 
every  man  feels  of  his  domestic  relations  and 
rights,  and  how  sorely  their  Southern  breth- 
ren are  tried  in  these  respects?  How  would 
the  husbands  and  fathers  at  the  North  endure 
it,  if  Southern  associations  should  be  formed 
to  bring  forth  to  the  world  the  sins  of  North- 
ern men,  as  husbands  and  fathers  ?  What  if 
the  South  should  send  to  the  North  to  collect 
all  the  sins  and  neglects  of  Northern  husbands 
and  fathers,  to  retail  them  at  the  South  in 


145 

tracts  and  periodicals  ?  What  if  the  Enghsh 
nation  should  join  in  the  outcry,  and  English 
females  should  send  forth  an  agent,  not  in- 
deed to  visit  the  offending  North,  but  to  cir- 
culate at  the  South,  denouncing  all  who  did 
not  join  in  this  crusade,  as  the  defenders  of 
bad  husbands  and  bad  fathers  ?  How  would 
Northern  men  conduct  under  such  provoca- 
tions ?  There  is  indeed  a  difference  in  the 
two  cases,  but  it  is  not  in  the  nature  and 
amount  of  irritating  influence,  for  the  South- 
erner feels  the  interference  of  strangers  to  re- 
gulate his  domestic  duty  to  his  servants,  as 
much  as  the  Northern  man  would  feel  the 
same  interference  in  regard  to  his  wife  and 
children.  Do  not  Northern  men  owe  a  debt 
of  forbearance  and  sympathy  toward  their 
Southern  brethren,  who  have  been  so  sorely 
tried  1 

It  is  by  urging  these  considerations,  and  by 
exhibiting  and  advocating  the  principles  of 
charity  and  peace,  that  females  may  exert  a 
wise  and  appropriate  influence,  and  one  which 
will  most  certainly  tend  to  bring  to  an  end, 
not  only  slavery,  but  unnumbered  other  evils 

N 


146 

and  wrongs.  No  one  can  object  to  such  an 
influence,  but  all  parties  will  bid  God  speed 
to  every  woman  who  modestly,  wisely  and 
benevolently  attempts  it. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  any  Abolitionists  are 
to  be  deterred  by  any  thing  I  can  offer,  from 
prosecuting  the  course  of  measures  they  have 
adopted.  They  doubtless  w^ill  continue  to  agi- 
tate the  subject,  and  to  form  voluntary  asso- 
ciations all  over  the  land,  in  order  to  excite 
public  sentiment  at  the  North  against  the  mo- 
ral evils  existing  at  the  South.  Yet  I  can- 
not but  hope  that  some  considerations  may 
have  influence  to  modify  in  a  degree  the  spirit 
and  measures  of  some  who  are  included  in 
that  party. 

Abolitionists  are  men  who  come  before  the 
public  in  the  character  of  reprovers.  That 
the  gospel  requires  Christians  sometimes  to 
assume  this  office,  cannot  be  denied;  but  it 
does  as  unequivocally  point  out  those  qualifi- 
cations which  alone  can  entitle  a  man  to  do 
it.  And  no  man  acts  wisely  or  consistently, 
unless  he  can  satisfy  himself  that  he  possesses 


147 

the  qualifications  for   this  duty,  before   he 
assumes  it. 

The  first  of  these  qualifications  is  more 
than  common  exemption  from  the  faults  that 
are  reproved.  The  inspired  interrogatory, 
"thou  therefore  which  teachest  another, 
teachest  thou  not  thyself?"  enforces  this 
principle;  and  the  maxim  of  common  sense, 
that  "reprovers  must  have  clean  hands,"  is 
no  less  unequivocal.  Abolitionists  are  re- 
provers for  the  violation  of  duties  in  the 
domestic  relations.  Of  course  thev  are  men 
who  are  especially  bound  to  be  exemplary  in 
the  discharge  of  all  their  domestic  duties. 
If  a  man  cannot  govern  his  temper  and 
his  tongue;  if  he  inflicts  that  moral  castiga- 
tion  on  those  who  cross  his  will,  which  is 
more  severe  than  physical  stripes;  if  he  is 
overbearing  or  exacting  with  those  under 
his  control ;  if  he  cannot  secure  respect  for  a 
kind  and  faithful  discharge  of  all  his  social 
and  relative  duties,  it  is  as  unwise  and  im- 
proper for  him  to  join  an  AboUtion  Society, 
as  it  would  be  for  a  drunkard  to  preach 
temperance,  or  a  slave-holder  Abolitionism. 


148 

Another  indispensable  requisite  for  the 
office  of  reprover  is  a  character  distinguished 
for  humility  and  meekness.  There  is  nothing 
more  difficult  than  to  approach  men  for  the 
purpose  of  convincing  them  of  their  ovi^n  de- 
ficiencies and  faults;  and  whoever  attempts 
it  in  a  self-complacent  and  dictatorial  spirit, 
always  does  more  evil  than  good.  However 
exemplary  a  man  may  be  in  the  sight  of 
men,  there  is  abundant  cause  for  the  exer- 
cise of  humility.  For  a  man  is  to  judge  of 
himself,  not  by  a  comparison  with  other 
men,  but  as  he  stands  before  God,  when  com- 
pared with  a  perfect  law,  and  in  reference 
to  all  his  peculiar  opportunities  and  restraints. 
Who  is  there  that  in  this  comparison,  cannot 
find  cause  for  the  deepest  humiliation?  Who 
can  go  from  the  presence  of  Infinite  Purity 
after  such  an  investigation,  to  "take  his 
t)rother  by  the  throat?'*  Who  rather,  should 
not  go  to  a  brother,  who  may  have  sinned, 
with  the  deepest  sympathy  and  love,  as  one 
who,  amid  greater  temptations  and  with  fewer 
advantages,  may  be  the  least  offender  of  the 


149 

two?  A  man  who  goes  with  this  spirit,  has 
the  best  hope  of  doing  good  to  those  who  may 
offend.  And  yet  even  this  spirit  will  not 
always  save  a  man  from  angry  retort,  vexa- 
tious insinuation,  jealous  suspicion,  and  the 
misconstruction  of  his  motives.  A  reprover, 
therefore,  if  he  would  avoid  a  quarrel  and  do 
the  good  he  aims  to  secure,  must  be  possess- 
ed of  that  meekness  which  can  receive  evil 
for  good,  with  patient  benevolence.  And  a 
man  is  not  fitted  for  the  duties  of  a  reprover, 
until  he  can  bring  his  feelings  under  this 
control. 

The  last,  and  not  the  least  important  re- 
quisite for  a  reprover,  is  discretion.  This  is 
no  where  so  much  needed  as  in  cases  where 
the  domestic  relations  are  concerned,  for 
here  is  the  place  above  all  others,  where  men 
are  most  sensitive  and  unreasonable.  There 
are  none  who  have  more  opportunities  for 
learning  this,  than  those  who  act  as  teachers, 
especially  if  they  feel  the  responsibility  of  a 
Christian  and  a  friend,  in  regard  to  the  moral 
interests  of  pupils,     A  teacher  who  shares 


150 

with  parents  the  responsibilities  of  educating 
their  children,  whose  efforts  may  all  be  ren- 
dered useless  by  parental  influences  at  home; 
who  feels  an  affectionate  interest  in  both  pa- 
rent and  child,  is  surely  the  one  who  might 
seem  to  have  a  right  to  seek,  and  a  chance 
of  success  in  seeking,  some  modifications  of 
domestic  influences.  And  yet  teachers  will 
probably  testify,  that  it  is  a  most  discouraging 
task,  and  often  as  likely  to  result  in  jealous 
alienation  and  the  loss  of  influence  over  both 
parent  and  child,  as  in  any  good.  It  is  one  of 
the  greatest  compliments  that  can  be  paid  to 
the  good  sense  and  the  good  feeling  of  a  pa- 
rent to  dare  to  attempt  any  such  measure. 
This  may  show  how  much  discretion,  and 
tact,  and  delicacy,  are  needed  by  those  who 
aim  to  rectify  evils  in  the  domestic  relations 
of  mankind. 

The  peculiar  qualifications,  then,  which 
make  it  suitable  for  a  man  to  be  an  Aboli- 
tionist are,  an  exemplary  discharge  of  all  the 
domestic  duties;  humility,  meekness,  delicacy, 
tact,  and  discretion,  and  these  should  especi- 


151 

ally  be  the  distinctive  traits  of  those  who  take 
the  place  of  leaders  in  devising  measures. 

And  in  performing  these  difficult  and  self- 
denying  duties,  there  are  no  men  who  need 
more  carefully  to  study  the  character  and 
imitate  the  example  of  the  Redeemer  of  man- 
kind. He,  indeed,  was  the  searcher  of  hearts, 
and  those  reproofs  which  were  based  on  the 
perfect  knowledge  of  "all  that  is  in  man," 
we  may  not  imitate.  But  we  may  imitate 
him,  where  he  with  so  much  gentleness,  pa- 
tience, and  pitying  love,  encountered  the 
weakness,  the  rashness,  the  selfishness,  the 
worldhness  of  men.  When  the  young  man 
came  with  such  self-complacency  to  ask 
what  rtiore  he  could  do,  how  kindly  he  was 
received,  how  gently  convinced  of  his  great 
deficiency!  When  fire  would  have  been 
called  from  heaven  by  his  angry  followers, 
how  forbearing  the  rebuke !  When  denied 
and  forsaken  with  oaths  and  curses  by  one 
of  his  nearest  friends,  what  was  it  but  a  look 
of  pitying  love  that  sent  the  disciple  out  so 
bitterly  to  weep  ?    When,  in  his  last  extre- 


152 


mity  of  sorrow,  his  friends  all  fell  asleep,  how 
gently  he  drew  over  them  the  mantle  of  love! 
Oh  blessed  Saviour,  impart  more  of  thy  own 
spirit  to  those  who  profess  to  follow  thee ! 


THE  END. 


^0122064620674 


I 


